


Our Future is For Many of Horror

by lemyh



Series: I Need You So Much Closer [7]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-02-19
Packaged: 2017-11-26 20:07:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 36,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/653948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lemyh/pseuds/lemyh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Those black eyes, which Stiles had been prepared for, were locked on him. He didn't even see the creature raise its head, but that didn't matter. Derek was edging towards him, trying not to be obvious that he was trying to block the line of sight to Stiles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back! To anyone who has stumbled upon this but has not read my other stories in this series, you might want to read those first! 
> 
> One) The title is from Many of Horror from Biffy Clyro. The song has nothing to do with the story, that line just fits very well.  
> Two) I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to get this up and running. I didn't want to write it until my heart was in it because the readers deserve more than that.  
> Three) I am currently not sure how long this story will be. My general plan is to not let it be as long as the others at six chapters, so maybe three or four?  
> Four) This is the final installment. Anything after this will either be unaffiliated or a simple oneshot. Where I'm taking this installment rounds the series out and I think we'll all be happy with the ending, if sad to see it go.
> 
> That being said, thank you all so much for reading. Enjoy!

New Year's Eve at the Stilinski household had always meant quiet reflection. Stiles would sit with his parents and eat dinner, watch the ball drop, and then retire to his bedroom for another year. It was always the same thing with their family, even after his mom passed away. Last year Stiles had almost missed the tradition, having been stumbling around in the dark with his werewolf best friend for whatever reason that night.

This year was going to be different, despite the fact that Stiles urged that nothing needed to change. His dad had invited the pack over for the night, delegating the sleeping arrangements with a mumbled 'just no one have sex under my roof' that made everyone a little uncomfortable. 

They all splayed around the living room as the time ticked closer, food being passed from person to person. Jackson and Danny were on the loveseat, muttering to one another under their breath. Lydia was sprawled out on her back with her feet tucked on the loveseat beside Jackson. Stiles and Scott were facing one another on the couch playing a card game on the cushion between them while Allison tried to keep them both honest. 

Derek watched over the entire group from the floor close to the couch, eyes roaming over his pack during commercial breaks. Stiles was certain that Derek didn't even realize he was doing it, but it was going to take a lot more than just a mate and some good instances of pack bonding for Derek to realize that this pack, their pack, wasn't going anywhere. 

"Hey guys, ball is about to drop." Stiles' dad appeared in the doorway from the kitchen, waving towards the television with his glass. Everyone gathered themselves, pressing close to their boyfriend or girlfriend, and watched the screen. 

10\. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.

The countdown was lost in the screams from Times Square, the music blasting over the crowds. Each of the couples kissed chastely, very aware of the sheriff standing only a few feet away who was doing his best to not look at the group of werewolf and human teenagers that had taken over his living room.

Stiles pressed a small kiss first to Derek's mouth and then to his neck, smiling as he felt his boyfriend wrap his arms around his waist.

"What are your resolutions for this year?" Stiles felt more than heard Derek laugh at that, an action he aborted a little less often these days.

"I don't make resolutions. If I have a goal, I don't need to wait for the New Year to start towards it." Derek turned them away from the group, wrapping his arms around his back a little tighter. 

"I have a few goals that I'd like to make come true this year. Don't give me that look, they aren't all inappropriate. Although I do have one of those and we should probably talk about the implications of said goal. But no, I think my biggest goal is to make the rest of this year count."

He'd spent a lot of time on that one. It was vague enough that he was sure he could meet it but it meant something. Derek raised an eyebrow, a silent question.

"It's my last semester of high school and then my first semester of college and in between is just a whole lot of time. I want to make this year count. I guess I just don't want any regrets."

Jackson and Lydia were making out since the sheriff had retired for the night. Allison and Danny were playing cards while Scott tried to stay unbiased as the ref. Stiles cast a glance around the room, trying not to smile too much. This was a great way to bring in the New Year.

"Do you have any regrets from last year?" Derek's voice was careful, layered over something Stiles didn't recognize. He looked into his boyfriend's eyes, seeing how they were shuttered and protecting himself. Stiles shook his head with a laugh, surging forward to capture Derek's lips roughly.

"The regrets I have for the last year have nothing to do with you. Although I might regret a few of my temper tantrums. And that time you broke up with me to protect me. Hopefully you have all of your self sacrificial tendencies out now because you're stuck with me."

Derek laughed, his lips moving against Stiles' as he did so. 

"I think we should be good." Stiles smiled as he wrapped his arms around Derek's waist and pulled him closer, legs tangled and only staying upright by sheer force of will. Or, well, Derek's annoying ability to hold them up in almost any position. 

"That doesn't sound very comforting, but I'll let it slide if you promise me that the next time you want to do something to protect me, you ask my opinion?"

Derek didn't answer, simply turned them around and moved so that they were sitting on the floor next to the couch. Danny was winning the card game, Allison was laughing so hard she was almost in tears, Scott was trying to be stealth in passing Allison cards, and Jackson was holding a sleeping Lydia against his chest.

Stiles wanted nothing more than just this moment. The pack was together and happy, they had pushed the thoughts of the strange creature that they needed to hunt to the back of their minds. Everyone was safe and sound. He knew it was probably only a matter of time before the next crisis came and they had to fight to survive, but for now?

For now he was going to relax and enjoy the time they had.

\------------

When the new semester started up, it didn't matter than nothing had changed. Honestly, Stiles hadn't expected miracles. Just because you say that you want the year to count, it doesn't mean that the year will magically get different. No, it meant that he was going to make the year count.

Somehow. 

Classes started on a Thursday, which was definitely a stupid plan on the school board's part. It gave them two days to regroup into the school atmosphere before being given two days of vacation. Really, the board didn't think it through at all.

Stiles and the rest of the pack met up in their classes, although the teachers mostly kept them on separate sides of the room now, and then in lunch. It never failed that they always had the same lunch period. 

"So are there any parties or anything this weekend? Not that I don't love spending time with just the pack, but I kind of miss having a social life that didn't revolve around training and the pack." Lydia was never one to be subtle with her words. 

It didn't escape Stiles' attention that everyone shot him a look before talking about the parties that were rumored for the weekend. Just because he was Derek's mate didn't mean he spoke for Derek. Or, well, maybe he did, but his word wasn't law. Derek was still the alpha.

"You think he'll let us go?" Scott was already buried to his nose in textbooks, surprisingly, but he looked up to ask that question directly to Stiles.

"Dude. I don't know. We're going to have to ask him." Not that Stiles thought Derek would actually say no. Only two of them were even bothered by alcohol now, although Lydia could be affected by it if she drank enough, so it pretty much wasn't a bad idea at all.

"What about you Stiles?" Danny's voice was light, but there was an undercurrent there that Stiles was starting not to like. It'd started whenever the pack had run into that creature, whatever it was, and it hadn't gone away. Like Danny was never sure about what he'd seen.

"What about me?"

"Are you going to try to come to Blake’s party with us on Friday?” 

Stiles had missed the part of the conversation where a party had been decided on, probably when he'd been talking to Scott. Blake probably referred to the senior that used to play lacrosse with them but dropped it to focus on his grades last year. He was a good guy, somewhere between Danny and Jackson on the personality scale.

"Why wouldn't I?" It was no secret that Stiles spent most Friday and/or Saturday nights at Derek's when his dad was working the night shift. Which he did most weekends now. He'd put the house key on his key chain, ran his thumb over the teeth of it on a daily basis. It didn't matter that it was a "just in case" measure for now, because soon it would actually be his key to the house he shared with Derek.

The thought was a little overwhelming sometimes, but he knew what he wanted. He wanted to live with Derek. He was going to have to break the news rather gently to his dad though. That probably was going to be interesting.

'Hey dad, I want to move in with my older, werewolf boyfriend.' He was going to have to word it differently or else it wouldn't matter if he would be eighteen. His dad would probably kill him.

"We know you usually have plans. But cool, we'll all go to Blake's on Friday."

And just like that, it was settled. They'd go to Blake's party on Friday and hey, that still left the rest of the weekend that they could gather up at either Derek's or the Stilinski household for quality pack time if they wanted. It was too early in the year for them to have to section off time for studying, so at least there was that.

They compared schedules for the rest of the day, groaning over shared doomed fates when it came to having a certain teacher or knowing what was to come in certain classes. Their senior year was always going to be hardest for them, at least for those of them that were taking advanced classes. Most of them had already gotten early acceptance to their schools so they didn't have to worry about that at least.

"Someone want to tell me why I'm taking another class with Harris? That guy hates me." Stiles let his head fall onto the table as he stared at his class schedule. Harris was his last class of the day. And with the way that man usually tried to kill Stiles by sheer will, it might be his last class ever.

It would totally suck to be killed by science when Stiles spent most of his free time chasing after supernatural threats.

\------------

Stiles was getting pretty good at the whole research thing. All of the time spent trying to figure out what his connection with Derek meant, although if Derek had just been truthful to start with it might have been easier, had taught him where he could look for actual answers and what was just fiction.

And there was a lot of fiction on the internet. Who knew?

Between some of the strangest books he's ever checked out at the library during his breaks and an internet search history that would make most people wary, Stiles had narrowed down the field to only a handful of possibilities. He hadn't seen the creature, didn't know anything about the creatures features since no one seemed to want to talk to Stiles about it, so he was going off hunches.

And really, it wasn't fair that the group wanted to walk on eggshells around Stiles about the damn thing. He couldn't help that it took one look at Derek and realized that Stiles was probably the only person it could turn into that would make the alpha _not_ attack. 

The biggest problem was Danny, who sometimes would be looking at Stiles as if he was expecting him to attack at any given minute. 

They can't have this distrust in a pack. Stiles wanted to take him to the side, shake him, and beg him to just see that everything was okay. 

Instead of doing that, Stiles poured every free ounce of time and energy into figuring out the mystery of who or what the creature was. Derek was his only choice, since the other wolves didn't get too much of a good look at the thing, so he kept his research to the side because he knew Derek would be there before he had to leave to make it to Blake's party on time.

It wasn't that he didn't want to go to the party, because he did, but he also didn't need to. He wasn't the one that missed his social life. Hell, he didn't have a social life until he got involved with the werewolves. 

Which was a little sad, if he was entirely honest.

After only a little while of waiting, Stiles heard a familiar car in the driveway. His dad was at work, so he wasn't surprised when he heard a knock on the window. Despite the fact that Derek knew for a fact where Stiles kept the spare key, he tended to sneak up to the window given the chance.

He crossed to the window, trying to hold in a smile as he unlocked and pushed the window open. A brisk breeze came in as Derek crossed into the room. A brisk breeze? It was freezing.

"There is a front door for a reason." Derek grunted, his go to response when he didn't feel like explaining himself, before pulling Stiles close for a kiss.

It was quick and freezing, but Stiles didn't care. He smiled up at Derek almost blindingly before stumbling over to his computer.

"This is what I called you over for. I've got a few ideas on what the creature could be, but I need some first hand experience on it and since the rest of the pack seemed to have taken a vow of silence whenever I bring it up, I figure you are my only hope. And I swear if you try to keep quiet too, I'm going to find something heavy and hit you in the face."

Derek let out a small laugh, a rumble from deep down in his chest that warmed Stiles up quicker than the heater ever could. They settled into the chairs at the desk, because Stiles had bought another computer chair when he realized how often someone else was on his computer with him, and he started to flip through the research.

"This one seemed promising, went along with the information from your book. This one doesn't go along with the book but it also sounded promising. This one isn't actually a choice, but I wanted to know if it was real? Seriously? And I thought werewolves were bad enough. Alright, how about this one? Fits the book. Or this one..."

They flipped through the printed pages and bookmarked web pages for thirty minutes, pouring over every detail, until Stiles watched Derek tense. He paused on the page he was scrolling over, a picture of something that looked nearly human except stretched and with a mouthful of needles instead of teeth, and took in the information written beside the picture.

_Shade. Can take on the form of humans. Once human themselves. Mirror subconscious of others. Once they take a form, they could copy it whenever._

That wasn't comforting. Because the creature had mirrored Derek's subconscious and became Stiles that once, it could now turn into Stiles whenever it wanted to? Derek seemed to reach that part at the same time because he started to growl, low and deep in a way that... yup. One look to Stiles that Derek was half shifted there in his bedroom.

"Derek, come on Derek, calm down. Don't glare at me like that young man. Old man. Shut up with your face. Listen to me; we're going to get this thing."

It wasn't working, so Stiles reached over and threaded his fingers through Derek's, careful of the claws that had sprouted from his fingertips. The touch calmed Derek, a benefit of their mated status. He could feel a thrum as their skin touched, something that happened only in times of intense emotion or physical contact for him but that Derek told him was constant for him.

The touch and the connection seemed to calm Derek enough that he phased back, skin rippling and hair shrinking, but his eyes stayed flashing crimson. It was enough for him, so Stiles squeezed the hand before rolling his chair so that he could face Derek fully.

"At least now we know what we're up against. We can do this Derek. I'll get all the information on shades that I can find, we'll figure out a game plan, and we'll get this thing."

Derek heaved a deep sigh as he leaned forward to place his forehead against Stiles'. And while Stiles could tell that Derek was struggling with something, he couldn't even begin to fathom what it could be. Whatever it was, something won out because he sighed once more before pulling away, moving to stand and then pace in the room.

A caged tiger. That's what Derek sometimes reminded Stiles of.

"We need to come up with a code, something that these shades won't know. I don't like thinking that it could go around wearing your skin." That made sense.

"That makes sense. Okay, so what should the code be?" He stayed seated, watching as Derek paced about the room. Suddenly he froze and twirled around, eyes resting on the impressive love bite that he'd left on Stiles' neck a few days before.

"Kiwi." 

Stiles really wished he had some control over his reactions because he knew he was probably blushing, but he just couldn't help it. They hadn't even had to use their safe word in months, not since they became mates, and certainly not even seriously before then. Derek had implemented the safe word back when they'd first started as a way that Stiles could stay in control of whatever they did sexually that he might not want to do.

Not that Stiles was really thinking he'd say no to anything, even if he wasn't 100% ready for it. But it was also there because of the biting, which Derek had been careful not to do to start with. And even now he only bit sometimes, usually when he lost control, right at the start of his orgasm. 

Needless to say, kiwi was going to be the best and most awkward code word ever.

\-----------

Blake's party was already in full swing by time Stiles had been able to crawl out from underneath Derek. Apparently just the mention of the safe word was enough to get them... distracted.

The rest of the pack was there. At least that's what the slightly threatening text messages from Lydia had said. Stiles weaved through the throngs of people that were spread out over the living room and kitchen as he looked for a familiar face. Of course most of the faces were familiar, but... ah, there.

Jackson and Scott were playing beer pong against two other lacrosse players. Allison was off in the corner with a few girls that Stiles vaguely remembered from one of their classes last semester. Lydia wasn't in the room as far as Stiles could tell, and neither was Danny, but at least he'd found somebody.

He high fived Scott after a particularly good toss, even fist bumping Jackson in a fit of playfulness that he'd deny if questioned. Allison shot him a look before going back to her conversation, one that clearly said that the two older betas had been scamming their peers for almost the entire time they'd been there.

Really, using their supernatural enhancements to cheat at lacrosse was one thing, but now beer pong? When they couldn't even get drunk? It was just wrong.

He stumbled into the kitchen to find something to drink, dodging people that either wanted to talk to him or just wanted to talk to anyone, until he found where the drinks were being distributed. Danny was leaning against the counter, eyes wide as he watched everyone around him dance and drink to their heart's content.

Danny didn't notice him though, even when Stiles came forward and tried to get in his line of sight. The werewolf should have recognized Stiles' scent, should have at least acknowledged him by now. It was strange and something about the way that Danny was watching everyone sent a shiver down Stiles' spine.

What if it wasn't Danny?

He slipped out of the kitchen empty handed and struggled through the group of people around him until he spotted a familiar head of hair. Lydia was holding court in the living room now, a group of her faithful followers standing around her like sunflowers pointed at a particularly bright sun.

"Hi Stiles!" Her voice carried over the party and as much as Stiles wanted to take a minute to wonder at how she could do that in a place this loud, he had more important things to worry about. He slipped through the people, smiling apologetically as he bumped into them with a little more force than necessary. 

Once he was the center of Lydia's orbit, he bent down and hesitatingly whispered into her ear, barely forcing the words out but knowing she'd hear them anyways.

"I need to talk to you. Pack stuff." He pulled back but before he'd even straightened his back completely, Lydia was pulling him through the room, apologizing to the people they knocked into. They made it outside in record time.

For someone so small, she really had a command over the student body.

"What is it?" Lydia's voice was tight, eyes wide as they made their way just off the property. No one outside would hear their conversation.

"The thing that you guys went against before Christmas? Derek and I identified it. It's called a shade. It mirrors a subconscious, anyone's subconscious, and takes on that form. And once it does that, it can take that form whenever it wants to."

Lydia's already wide eyes got even larger, glinting in the light from the street lamp. They were glowing green and Stiles had to rearrange their position just in case anyone came by that way. 

"That's horrible. And not so good for you, if that's what you're getting at. I mean, it can take on your form, how will we know..." Lydia was getting carried away so Stiles shook his head because that was not what they needed to talk about right now.

"It isn't about me. They can't take on our memories, so all you have to do is ask me something and you'd know it was me." 

Lydia's eyes took on a hard quality and she bit her lip before she spoke.

"What is your nickname for me?" Stiles froze for a second, mostly because even though he knew it was smart, he hadn't expected her to quiz him just then.

"Lyds." He watched as she deflated, hand reaching out to wrap around Stiles' wrist, squeezing lightly.

"I don't even want to think about someone impersonating you." 

That got them back on track. Stiles twisted his hand until he was grasping Lydia's hand fully in his, keeping her attention on him.

"That's why I brought you out here. I think one of those things might have mirrored Danny somehow. He's been acting weird around me lately. Plus just now, in the kitchen? He looks lost and you know how he is at these parties. He's Mister Social, right behind Jackson on the social ladder. Above him, if you want my opinion but... you're right, off topic. Fact is, he is acting weird. Plus, he didn't even notice I was there."

And if everything else hadn't been enough for her, that last bit pushed Lydia into believing. He watched as her face fell at hearing that he didn’t notice Stiles. He knew it was partially because of pack and partially because he was Derek's mate that the pack members, minus Allison, seemed to always know where he was at any given time in the vicinity.

"At least we know these shades can't take on our werewolf persona too. That's a little bit of a comfort. Okay, so if it isn't Danny... then where is he?"

Stiles froze because he hadn't even thought about that. This Danny had been acting strange for the past week or so, but they'd spent time with him. They'd seen him at his house, at work that once, and at school. Which meant, if a shade had taken over Danny's life, that the real Danny had to be somewhere.

Or dead. Danny could be... no. Derek would have felt it. Stiles knew how it worked.

"We'll... we need to get the others out here, get Derek. We can't make a move until we know for sure. You round up Allison, Jackson, and Scott. Don't let Danny see you though. He knows that we're a pack; he'll try to tag along if he thinks he's supposed to. Get everyone out here. Don't tell them what's going on until you're all outside. I'm going to call Derek."

With a nod, Lydia squeezed Stiles' hand once before taking off towards the house once more, strutting in a way that said not to interrupt her. She really had a way about her. 

Stiles wrestled his phone out of his pocket, cursing his frozen fingers as he tapped Derek's speed dial. The phone rang three times before Derek answered.

"Already tired of the party?" Stiles wanted to laugh because he'd said something about that as Derek had been slipping out of his window, that he'd call once he got tired of the party. 

It wasn't as funny now.

"We have a problem. You know those shades? I think one might have copied Danny. And if that's true, that means they are hiding him somewhere or..." He didn't know how to finish that so he let the sentence trail off. 

He could see the pack exiting the house, their eyes automatically seeking out where Stiles was standing. As they walked, Lydia was speaking and using her hands to get her point across. By the varying states of horror on their faces, Stiles had to assume she was explaining their situation.

"We need to keep it in the dark, don't let it know that you suspect anything. Don't change anything. Grab him and bring him here."

"How? Tonight is supposed to be our night away from pack business." Derek growled and Stiles felt it in his own bones.

"I don't care. Make something up. Just get it here." He hung up the phone and Stiles swore, hanging up his own phone and sliding it back into his pocket. The pack surrounded him, eyes wide as they waited for the plan.

"We need to get him to Derek. Don't let him know we suspect anything. We have to act like everything is okay. We're also going to have to make up a story so that he'll believe it when we say we have to go there since we're supposed to be off duty tonight."

They all looked at one another, trying to figure it out. Allison was the one that answered.

"There's been another attack and my dad wants us all in one place so that he knows it wasn't us." She'd offered the solution in a calm voice but her hands were shaking. She couldn't be the one to collect Danny. 

"It'll do if we can sell it. Jackson, Scott, you two collect Danny. We're all going to go in and let him see us all head out together. Everyone, act worried about the attacks. Remember, it's Danny."

Once everyone knew what to do, they all headed back into the party. Jackson and Scott gave them a brief nod before disappearing into the kitchen together, heads held high. Stiles might harp on Scott sometimes, but he really did fall right into the position when the stakes were raised.

Even Jackson, but Stiles was definitely not ever going to admit that.

They stepped out of the kitchen, Danny behind them with his features schooled. Jackson nodded to them, head tilted towards the front door, and Stiles made a small show of looking between Allison and Lydia before shrugging and heading towards the door with them.

Outside, in the middle of the road and away from the house, Scott spoke up.

"Derek called me. We have to get to his house. Allison's dad says there has been another attack and in order to protect the pact we made, we have to show that it wasn't us." 

Everyone nodded, looking varying shades of worried, and started to filter out to their own vehicles. The only problem was that Danny's car was blocked in by at least four others. He eyed first Allison and Scott getting into Allison's car and then Jackson and Lydia about to slip into the Porsche before he looked over at Stiles.

"Mind giving me a ride?" Stiles felt his heart thud painfully in his chest and was grateful that the shade couldn't take on the wolf persona and therefore hopefully didn't hear it.

"Sure dude. Get in. I'll swing you this way after the meeting to grab your car." Danny nodded, waving to the others as he got into the passenger of the jeep. Stiles met first Scott's eyes and then Jackson's, conveying exactly what he was thinking with only a few hand movements.

Jackson would lead the way, Stiles would follow, and Scott would follow him. That way if anything happened... 

Stiles was getting pretty good at making back up plans.

\-----------

Even though their luck in the past pointed to the ride being an absolute disaster, Stiles managed to get them to the house without an issue. Danny had kept up a steady stream of conversation, something that was definitely not like their Danny at all, about school and how classes were going to be difficult. Which was also not like Danny who was taking two business classes and sailed through that stuff.

They made it into the house without a problem either, the others shooting Stiles a look that clearly was them wondering if he was okay. He nodded as subtly as he could, meaning he had to cover it up with a random movement when Danny ultimately turned around to look at him.

"We should go in, right?" They all nodded as one and moved towards the house, Danny in the middle of them. They weren't sure what would happen, if Derek would spring out of the corner and attack, but they were ready.

Stiles could feel Derek on the edge of his mind, rage and apprehension at the forefront. He pushed some optimism through the connection as best as he could before he pulled out his key and unlocked the door, shooting a look at Lydia when she cooed at the sight.

"Shut up before I... figure out a way to embarrass you." She laughed again but fell silent as she remembered that they weren't there on the best of terms.

There were lights on but no one around. Even the wolves seemed unable to detect where Derek was. Stiles moved forward to the railing, noticing a sticky note on the edge. It was something he and Derek had talked about and had started doing regularly when something came up.

_side door in the garage._ He showed the group the note, each shrugging. 

Of course they'd all seen the door in the garage, but it had never been opened. On pain of death, if Stiles remembered the conversation well enough. They slipped through the house quietly, with Stiles leading the way. Kitty tried to follow them, although Allison scooped her up and deposited her back into the living room before slipping back into the garage.

At the door, he tried the knob but it was locked. He tried it once more before Jackson suggested maybe his key would work.

It did. Stiles refused to give Jackson the credit though. 

From there they went down a series of stairs and through a few winding tunnels. It didn't take a genius to realize where they were. Scott and Allison were the only two that had been down here before and they recognized it immediately, huddling together as they moved.

Through the labyrinth that was the Hale dungeons, which had apparently been redone at some point, Stiles could feel the echo of where Derek was. He followed it into one of the first doors, the rest of the group following him. 

Derek was in the middle of the room, shoulders tense but the rest of him looking calm. He was a good actor. Stiles had forgotten that little tidbit.

"So." Derek nodded, eyes locking with Stiles' until he felt a familiar hum go through him. It said to leave, to get back into the hall. At first he wasn't sure what was going on but Derek looked up minutely and Stiles followed his sight. 

There was a hose that poked just a little out of the top of the room from the wall. It would probably feed in some sort of gas. This room was meant for Danny.

Stiles turned around, looking at everyone. Fortunately Danny was looking at the wall, inspecting a series of claw marks in the stone. Stiles motioned for everyone to go to the door and everyone turned as one.

As everyone else barreled out of the room, Derek grabbed Stiles and pushed him forward. Once everyone was out, except Danny, Derek slammed the door shut. There was a moment of silence before Danny's voice reached them.

"Guys? What's going on guys? Hello?" His voice sounded panicked but none of them could give in. Derek shook his head as everyone stared at him. There was a control panel next to the door and he typed something in, taking a deep breath before hitting enter. There were no noises at first but then there was a wailing sound, a sound that no human or wolf could make.

"Guess that answers that question."

The shade stopped after a few moments, drowning into a silence that made Stiles uneasy. Derek hit a button and a small screen flickered to life, showing a body in the middle of the room. It wasn't Danny, it wasn't human. The limbs were elongated and discolored; the head looked almost too small for the body. 

This was a shade. If it was awake, there would be a mouth full of pointy teeth trying to tear into their skin. If they were in the room with it at least. The eyes, if they were open, would be fully black and empty.

"What now?" Jackson was staring at the door instead of the little image capture they had of the shade. 

"I have to go in there and lock it up. It'll come around soon enough; there wasn't enough gas in there to knock it out for long. We'll figure out where Danny is and what the shade wants with him." Derek sounded certain, but Stiles could see underneath it. He could see the uncertainty that sat on the edge, a brutal reminder of what happened the first time Derek had approached one of these creatures.

"I'll go with you." It wasn't a surprise to anyone, although everyone shot Stiles a look when he spoke. Derek shot him an almost glare but Stiles simply stared back and waited.

If he was in the room with Derek when he approached the shade, then even if it did turn into Stiles, he would be able to do what he had to. He could look beside him and see for himself that it wasn't Stiles and everything would be okay.

Eventually Derek nodded, eyes drawn to the door. He needed to get in there and lock the shade up or else this would be useless. 

"Scott, you'll be with us. Stay at the door but stay alert. If this thing looks like it is about to go off the walls, get Stiles out of there."

It hurt to be pushed back to being a useless human, but in this case, Stiles was a little okay with it. He couldn't do anything against the shade. It had seriously terrifying teeth and horribly long fingers that ran to a point, hard and sharp, that would cut him to ribbons.

The three of them made their way into the room after Derek typed in a code. The creature was sprawled on its face, the gas having knocked it out. Derek and Scott pulled it over to the wall where they snapped a set of manacles on its feet and hands.

Scott made his way towards the door, staying just out of sight of the creature whenever it woke up. Stiles stayed at Derek's side, despite his boyfriend's urgings that he should get behind him.

He wanted to see. He wanted to see what made Derek get quiet and withdrawn late at night when he didn't think Stiles was awake. He wanted to see the creature that morphed into him and caused everything to feel fragile and open in a way that made things hurt.

The shade stirred. Stiles was perfectly aware that he jumped, but he couldn't help it. They waited it out, watched as the shade came to and then became aware that it was latched to the wall. It struggled, arms tensing and pulling, but the locks held. 

"Bravo." The word was rasped out of the creature as if it hadn't spoken in years. Maybe they didn't speak in their natural shape. 

Those black eyes, which Stiles had been prepared for, were locked on him. He didn't even see the creature raise its head, but that didn't matter. Derek was edging towards him, trying not to be obvious that he was trying to block the line of sight to Stiles.

"Where is Danny?" The creature's eyes moved over to where Derek was standing, narrowing to slits.

"The human boy whose image I wore? He is alive." Those inky black depths moved back to Stiles and Derek growled.

"Where is he?" Derek's voice held the alpha's command and Stiles could see Scott flinching at the force of it. Even Stiles could feel it, as the mate, but he didn't move. 

"He is in his basement." Stiles hoped that the others would have heard that and would be on their way to Danny's house.

There was a silence, the creature not trying to look at Stiles for the first time. It made him uncomfortable. 

"We cannot use the image of someone that is dead."

The creature glanced at Stiles, mouth pulling back over its teeth in a way that made Stiles' skin crawl. Those teeth were definitely going to haunt his nightmares.

"I have seen this one before." The creature's voice was hoarse and the more it spoke the worse it got. It took Stiles a second to realize what it had said.

"You turned into him in the woods." The creature's head snapped to look at Derek, grinning around its mouth full of needles.

"I have only taken the one image since arriving here. It was not of this boy, even if that does explain it. One of my siblings walks with your image." 

His stomach dropped and Stiles could feel his skin breaking out in a sweat. There was someone out there, something rather, that was walking around in his skin? 

Derek wrapped a clawed hand around the creature's throat, pressing his claws in just a little. Stiles watched in a sick, frozen fascination as the creature simply slid his eyes over to Derek's, which were no doubt flashing red and only a few inches from his face.

"What do you want?" The creature opened its mouth, letting out a blood chilling scream. Stiles fell to his knees, covering his ears. Scott was behind him in an instant, trying to get him up, but he felt like his body was full of lead.

He couldn't understand why the werewolf with sensitive ears wasn't reacting to the noise but he was. He scratched at Scott's arms, tried to get him to understand that it wasn't helping, but his own voice seemed to have deserted him. Except his mouth was open and his throat hurt, so maybe he was screaming too.

There was a flash of heat and then silence. Stiles dropped to the floor, face pressed into the stone, wondering why his skin felt sticky. When Scott hoisted him up, he saw. He was splattered with blood, bright red in a way that didn't fit right. He looked up, eyes searching for Derek, and found him standing over the collapsed body of the shade.

Its throat had been slashed, Derek's fingers covered in the too red blood. He had missed something, missed the killing stroke. Not that he wanted to see it really.

"Come on Stiles." Scott was pulling him towards the door, his body no longer filled with lead but so exhausted anyways.

Derek looked up as they reached the door, Scott trying to pull it open to no avail. He made his way over, pausing just out of reach before motioning for Scott to move. He pulled down a touchpad, typing something in before slapping it shut. 

The door creaked open and the three of them stepped out. They were alone, the others probably having rushed to Danny's house to find him. Stiles wondered if that had been a lie.

"Get him upstairs. Now." Scott made a noise, something almost like a whimper but closer to a growl, and started to drag Stiles towards the stairs.

"This would be a lot easier if you could move your legs buddy." 

Stiles made an effort and between the two of them they got up the stairs and through the door. The stumbled through the garage and then into the house, with Stiles being careful not to touch anything he could stain.

"Shower." Stiles forced the word out, feeling his body drain once it was out. Scott slung Stiles' arm over his shoulder, hoisting him up the stairs quickly. At the top they were both exhausted. Stiles didn't understand it, couldn't figure out why Scott was having such a hard time. He was a werewolf!

"Whatever that thing did, it feels like my body is drained. It must have worked on you faster than me though." 

Stiles wondered if Derek was drained. He was still in the basement with the shade's body. As much as he wanted to be there for Derek, he could barely be there for himself right then.

Scott deposited him onto the toilet of the bathroom and eyed the shower suspiciously.

"I can help you or...?" Stiles shook his head, motioning for Scott to leave. He knew he wouldn't go far, just in case he needed him. 

Stiles stripped off his blood soaked clothes. It was actually a little disconcerting how many of his clothes had been ruined by blood. The blood had soaked through the fabric and started to stain his skin, but he didn't focus on that. He turned his eyes to the mirror and stared at the scars.

He had a small scar on his side from the knife of the first hunter. He ran his fingers over it, shaking as he did so. And then high on his arm was the proof of the last battle, the jagged edges of the bite from the beta that had infected him. Further up were the clean marks from Derek who was trying to save him.

He skimmed his fingers over that scar lovingly before tipping himself into the shower. The water was a shock to his system and he could feel his energy level rising a bit. He scrubbed at the blood on his front, washing it from his arms and face, until his skin was pink and sore. And then he scrubbed some more.

He didn't hear the door open but the shower curtain was pushed away and Derek was turning off the water before Stiles could comment. He pulled Stiles out of the tub, wrapping him up in two thick towels, before leading him into the bedroom.

"Jackson called. They found Danny. He's okay." Stiles nodded, throwing himself onto the bed he most often shared with Derek, keeping one of the towels tucked around his waist.

He felt Derek position him onto his back, watched idly as Derek started to dress him as if he was a doll. A pair of underwear, a spare pair of sweatpants, a pair of socks. Stiles waved off the t-shirt, simply crawled up the bed and curled into the pillows.

"What did it do to me?" His body felt like he'd been moving without stop for years. He couldn't handle it. Derek moved into the bed with him, pulling the blanket over both of them.

"I don't know. It started to scream and you fell down. Scott was trying to get you out but he couldn't even move you. I couldn't... I felt my own body starting to slump. Whatever it was doing, it affected you first and then started on Scott and me. I had to kill it to stop it."

Stiles nodded, scooting over as far as he could until he was pressed along Derek's front. The contact showed him that he was shaking. He twisted his fingers in Derek's shirt, no longer drenched in blood so he must have changed, his skin still stained with it. 

Derek would have been terrified, would have seen Stiles in pain and not known what caused it. He would have felt helpless. He would have...

"Go to sleep Stiles." He didn't fight it, mostly because he couldn't. They would figure it out once they could function. Stiles nosed at Derek's neck, pressing a soft kiss to the pulse point there, before he slumped against the pillows and gave in to sleep.

\----------

Waking up was a lot easier than Stiles would have thought possible, especially seeing as how when he fell asleep he could have sworn he'd never fully wake up again. Although with how tired as he felt, it might have been days, weeks, months later. He slapped a hand out, feeling around the bed for Derek, but it was empty and the sheets and pillow where he had been when they'd gone to sleep were cool to the touch. He sighed, glancing at the clock and trying to remember what time it had been when they'd gotten there. They'd left the party before ten pm, and the clock only read two am. Was it possible that he only slept that long, or had he slept a full twenty-four hours? There was only one way to know for sure.

He stood up, wobbling a bit but otherwise not as bad off as he thought he would be. He grabbed the shirt that Derek had tried to put on him earlier and slipped it over his head, trying to figure out if he was cold enough to warrant stealing one of Derek's hoodies. He decided to do it anyways and as he yanked it over his head he heard what sounded like something shattering coming from the first floor. He paused, his heart caught somewhere in his throat, before a familiar voice yelled up the stairs.

"Come down stairs Stiles before Derek comes up there to get you." Lydia's voice carried up to him and Stiles had to fight back a smile. Of course they would have heard him up and about. He scratched at his stomach as he made his way out of the room, nearly tripping down the stairs when he ran into Kitty. He picked her up, hushing her when she let out a loud meow, and took the stairs two at a time. The living room was empty so he made his way into the kitchen, letting Kitty jump off his shoulder and onto the couch as he passed it.

Lydia and Allison were at the stove, hip checking one another out of the way while they stirred something. Stiles couldn't believe how good it smelled, nor the fact that he couldn't smell it before. Jackson and Danny were at the table, with Scott standing nearby handing them plates to put down. Derek actually wasn't there, but Stiles knew he wouldn't be far off.

"Smells good ladies." They chorused a thank you to Stiles as he sat down beside Danny, who looked fine considering he'd just spent the last week or so in his own basement. Everyone was acting like nothing was wrong, nothing was different, but it was sometime after two in the morning and Stiles was starving to a degree he'd never felt before and he wanted to know what happened.

"So what'd I miss?" Stiles spoke while Allison and Lydia brought a bunch of pots over, putting them on the table on the bamboo trivets that Lydia had nearly forced Derek to buy when they started to decorate the kitchen. Whatever was in the pots smelled amazing and they took turns spooning heaps of it onto their plates.

"Well once we heard where they were keeping Danny, we all rushed to his house. His parents weren't home so we broke into his basement. At first we couldn't find him but Jackson and Lydia were able to sniff him out. He was in the corner, covered with empty boxes. Completely still, it was like he wasn't alive, but they both said they could hear his heart beating." Allison stopped telling the story to run back to the stove to turn off the eyes before something caught fire. 

"His heartbeat was so slow that we weren't sure what to think, but once we uncovered him, he had this thing on his neck. We took it off and he sort of just snapped awake. It must have been keeping him in some sort of limbo state because he was fine, wasn't hungry or tired or hurting in any way." Lydia's words came out faster than usual but Stiles was able to understand her. He was fluent in Lydia-ese. 

"They explained that the shade, the thing that had copied you that night, had copied me somehow. They must have put the collar on me to keep me alive or something. I don't even remember how it happened. The last thing I remember was leaving the house to run an errand for my mom and the next thing I knew, Lydia and Jackson were hovering over me and asking me if I was okay." Danny shrugged as he spoke, shoveling in a mouthful of food between sentences. Whether or not he was hungry from being in that limbo state or just because he was a growing teenage boy werewolf, it didn't matter. Good thing the girls always cooked too much to begin with.

Stiles looked around the room once more before deciding to finally ask where Derek was. Before he could, the back door opened and with a gust of cold wind came Derek, dusting a small smattering of snow off his shoulders. Stiles didn't even know it was snowing again, but that wasn't the point. 

"And where were you?" Stiles' had tried to make his voice sound playfully accusing but it actually sounded a little worried. He didn't realize until he saw Derek that he had been worried about his boyfriend's whereabouts. He knew he wasn't hurt, would have felt it if he was, but Stiles didn't want Derek beating himself up about what happened in the rooms under the estate.

"I had to burn the body." Derek's voice was rough, but no one commented on it. He slumped into the open chair next to Stiles and accepted the plate of food that was passed to him, rubbing his free hand over his face before dropping it to Stiles' leg, squeezing just above his knee lightly before starting to eat.

The pack was silent while they ate, each one either lost in their own thoughts or in the deliciousness that was whatever pasta thing the girls had cooked up. Stiles kept going between how awesome the food was and how strange what had happened in the room was. 

The creature admitted that there were more shades in Beacon Hills, had admitted that someone else was walking around able to turn into Stiles at will. But why? Why were they in Beacon Hills at all? When Derek had asked, the creature had let out that scream... and what was with that? Why did it affect Stiles first? Was it because he was human and Derek and Scott were stronger? What was the point of the scream? 

What if the shade was calling the others to this place? Stiles felt his spine stiffen at the thought. There could be tens or hundreds of shades in the shadows, waiting to attack. Stiles was working himself into a panic but Derek's hand fell to his leg again, squeezing tighter this time. A glance to him showed that Stiles wasn't alone in the thought.

"I checked the perimeter as far as I dared without the rest of the pack. I don't sense anything out of the ordinary and none of the alarm systems have been tripped." That had been a new update to the woods of the Hale property. Derek had installed motion sensors throughout the property as an early warning system. There wasn't one on the road leading to the house from either direction, but there were cameras to cover those areas that were turned on with motion sensors. It paid to be paranoid when you were an alpha werewolf.

So nothing, nothing was out in the woods waiting to pop out and eat them with some honestly terrifying teeth. Good. Which didn't subtract from the fact that there were more of these things, who knows how many more, that were somewhere in Beacon Hills. And one of those things could turn into Stiles at will. It wasn't the most pleasant thought to have. 

At least Danny was there and they were all safe for now. So they continued eating, making small talk about classes or projects or anything but the danger that was very present in their town. They would have to make a plan, of attack or defense, but they needed to get more information first.

\--------

Researching shades gave them no new information and was dwindling their resources. Chris Argent hadn't heard of the things, hadn't seemed very happy about the news that there was something out there that could warp itself into other people's image and take over their lives. Stiles' dad had seemed even less thrilled about it, swearing a colorful streak before pointing at Stiles and telling him to never repeat any of those words in polite company.

All that left was Deaton, the vet. Scott had gone to work with the intentions of getting any information from the man that he could, but Stiles wasn't sure what the vet could give them. Yeah, he worked with werewolves sometimes, but that didn't mean he was privy to everything supernatural. 

Stiles pushed himself off of his bed where he had flopped face first after the eventful few days they'd had. He would be back at school in the morning, trying to pass his classes and not think about the fact that there was a demented, needle-mouthed version of him somewhere in the woods waiting for their chance to take over his life. He didn't like the thought that a fake Stiles could be sleeping in his room, spending time with his dad and his friends, touching his boyfriend. For some reason, that part irked him a bit more than everything else.

He opened his laptop, booting it up and waiting before he could open a search engine. Getting good at researching was a skill he should have looked into for all of those papers that he usually ended up mostly bullshitting, but at least it had some relevance in his life now. They had already checked everywhere they could think to try, but Stiles wasn't going to give up. There had to be something...

There was an article he'd skimmed over a few times, written in a different language, that made Stiles pause. He highlighted the text, right clicked and hit translate. After a few moments, the text was in a very broken form of English.

The jist of it was that shades couldn't communicate in their normal skin without causing themselves a lot of pain. They used to be human but with their ability to warp themselves into other images, they begun to warp themselves. Their main defense was their razor like fingers and their incredibly sharp teeth. They could replicate a human's image only for a short amount of time unless they had the human in their possession, either from reflecting from another's person's subconscious or from mirroring the person.

There hadn't been many sightings of the creatures in their natural state and that's why it was so hard to find information on them, because so little could be proved. Stiles printed off the translation and glanced at his clock. Scott got off work at seven, so he still had about three hours before they would hear anything about their friendly neighborhood scary vet. 

"Stiles? Come down here." Hearing his dad's voice, Stiles groaned loudly before hoisting himself to his feet and making his way down the steps. His dad was at the kitchen table, a folder open in front of him. It wasn't often that Stiles was actually asked into the room when his dad had a report on the table. Usually it was the opposite and his dad was chasing him out of the room.

"What's up dad?" Stiles leaned against the wall just in case he wasn't actually supposed to paying attention to the folder that seemed to have a huge neon sign above it taunting him.

"I got a report from a pair of hikers that were in the woods. Said they heard something making a noise and went to investigate it. When they found the source, the girl said it looked just like her brother, which was impossible because her brother is over seas. When she tried to get close, she said he opened his mouth and screamed and the teeth..."

Stiles knew first hand what the teeth looked like but his dad slid the report over to him and he found himself looking at a very realistic drawing. The girl had signed her name at the bottom, apparently a very good artist, and Stiles saw a flash of the shade chained to the wall, eyes black and teeth sharp. His skin tingled as if he was down there again, but he put his hands flat on the table to ground himself.

"We have to keep people out of the woods. They aren't coming out to find people, not yet. They are taking what they can get. Right now all they have that we know of is Danny's likeness, mine, and this girl's brother. They can't replicate it for a long amount of time without us imprisoned like they did with Danny so they won't take the chance of trying to go out into the town in our images. Look for missing person reports, see if anyone has gone missing lately. And see if anyone has called in and said that people have been acting weird. I know that dispatch might think it is a prank or not important, but it's all we have until we know what we can do to get these things out of here."

His dad jot a few things down in his notebook before leaning back in his chair, rubbing his hand over his face a few times.

"I'm starting to rethink not letting you have a gun." Although his dad's heart was in the right place, Stiles shook his head.

"No, a gun would draw too much attention. We already have that with trigger happy Argent living in our town. We have the wolves, which are pretty handy by themselves. Allison and I have our bows and each of us have a secondary pack with the extra stuff her dad allowed us to use. We may be the humans, but we definitely aren't vulnerable." 

It felt a lot like a conversation he'd had with Derek on many occasions. Wouldn't his dad like to know that they had that in common, worrying about Stiles’ safety and penchant for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

"I know son, I know. I trust you and your mismatched gang of misfits. Just keep me updated on what goes on. I have to run to the office to switch out a few reports and talk to the dispatchers." His dad rolled his eyes when Stiles saluted him, but after he left, Stiles slumped against the table. 

He could put on a brave front and talk himself out of a jam in no time, but the fact remained that they didn't know what they were going to do. And now normal people were having run ins with these things. He fished his cell phone out of his pocket and checked the time before rushing upstairs to grab the research, his keys, and a jacket, stumbling down the steps and to his jeep.

\--------

The porch light was on but that was about it. The Camaro wasn't there either. Stiles zipped his jacket up a bit higher before making his way up to the porch, stomping his feet on the welcome mat while he fumbled with his keys. A small jolt went through him as he put the key into the lock, turning it to unlock the door. He could do this now. Derek had given him permission to come into his house without being asked, without being invited. And he couldn't take it away because Stiles had already had the key copied and had the spares in his room at home.

Just in case.

He kicked his shoes off before making his way to the thermostat and nudging it a little higher, putting the research onto the table there as well as his keys. Kitty came trotting from one of her many hiding places before plopping down at his feet. Her heat hadn't lasted long but it was only a few months before it would start again. They needed to get her fixed. Or Stiles could just wait and let her terrorize Derek some more. 

He picked the cat up, hoisting her onto his shoulder as he made his way into the living room. Without losing the cat, he flopped onto the couch and turned on the television, flicking for something vaguely interesting to watch until Derek got home from whichever appointment he had that day. He settled on some game show or other but his eyes strayed towards the door that lead to the garage. He forced himself to pay attention to the show but no matter how happy the people were or how peppy the music got, it couldn't draw his attention away from the garage door.

After putting his shoes back on, he grabbed his keys and made his way to the garage. He unlocked the door and stared down the stairs. There had been a light on the last time he was down here so he fumbled around the wall for a switch, flicking it up when he found it. The stairs lit up and made his way down them, shutting the door behind him but making sure it didn't lock. 

The walls were cold to the touch but he kept his hand on one wall as he made his way through the halls. He recognized the long hall when he came across it, stopping in front of the room that the shade had been in. The door was open so he stepped in, hands fisted and shoved into his pockets as he stared at the wall with the manacles, little splotches of blood dried on the cement. 

The creature's eyes kept looking at him, even though Derek was obviously the threat in the room. His voice had sounded so rough, like gravel. And the way his lips had pulled over his teeth when he smiled was vicious and terrifying and--

It felt a sledgehammer hit him in the chest. He staggered backwards, leaning on the wall, and tried to trace where it had come from. Derek. It had to have been Derek. As he tried to push through the pain to figure out what was going on, if Derek was in trouble, he heard a loud rumbling throughout the cement walls of the dungeon. Stiles tripped out of the room just as Derek rounded the corner, fangs extended and claws poised to attack, eyes wide and crimson and...

Derek growled low as he stepped closer to Stiles, his claws retracting as he reached out and pulled Stiles to him, holding him a bone crushing hug. Stiles couldn't even manage to get his arms around Derek, pinned as they were between them, so he settled for just dropping his face into Derek's neck. He could feel and hear Derek's heartbeat in that position, pounding so strong that it seemed to echo in the empty halls.

"Don't ever do that again." Stiles pulled back as much as Derek would let him so that Derek would see his frown.

"Do what?" Derek pushed Stiles back far enough that he could be looked over, as if making sure he was in one piece. 

"I don't care that you came down here or else I would have a different lock on the door. But don't come here, park your car in the driveway, and then not be where I expect you to be."

With everything that was happening, Stiles didn't even think about it. Derek must have gotten there and, not finding Stiles, thought that something had happened. With the creatures running around, it wasn't a huge leap to guess that Derek had been scared. Stiles shook his head and stepped closer to Derek, reaching behind his head and pulling him into a kiss.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking." Derek nodded into the kiss, capturing the back of Stiles' head to deepen it for a moment before stepping back.

“I don’t want to ask, but… I need you to say something.”

Stiles waited since he thought that Derek wasn't finished with his thought, but when he realized that that was all he was going to get, he thought about it before it clicked. Derek didn’t want to ask about their code word because that would mean the shades would learn that they had one, so he was leaving it open.

“Uh, well, kiwi.” He’d said it as low as he could, knowing Derek would hear it, but trying to keep his face from turning bright red.

"Come on, it's too cold to be down here." They made their way through the maze of hallways until they got back to the stairs. At the top, Derek locked the door and led them back into the living room, toeing off their shoes and peeling off their jackets so that the could curl up on the couch. Kitty launched herself from seemingly out of nowhere so that she could nestle between them comfortably. 

"Why'd you stop by?" Stiles shrugged, running his fingers over Kitty's fur, listening to her purr contently between the two of them.

"Dad said that some hikers came across a shade. They heard a noise and when they saw what made it, it was the girl's brother. Only he's overseas so it obviously couldn't have been him. When they freaked out, it freaked out on them and ran. She drew a very detailed sketch of the teeth."

Derek ran a hand over his face, using his other hand to change the channel on the television until it came to the news. He put the remote down and pulled Stiles a little closer to him, smushing Kitty between them. It didn't even disrupt her purring in the least.

"We'll see if Deaton has any advice. If not, we'll do what we usually do. Crowd in on one of them and get them to talk. We'll come up with a fool proof plan and then a couple of back up plans because our plans rarely work out and do what we have to." 

Stiles nodded but couldn’t help but think about those inky black eyes as they slid from Derek to look at Stiles, they way the creature had said that it had seen him before. If it was one of the creature's siblings, why had it been walking around amongst them wearing Stiles' image?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. This chapter has been written and waiting, but I didn't want to post it until I was finished with the next chapter but since the next chapter will be the last chapter, I decided to go ahead and post. Chapter Three is about half way finished as it is, so there shouldn't be too long of a wait before I post it.
> 
> Thank you for reading, enjoy!

As it turned out, Dr. Deaton didn't know anything about shades. He'd seemed pretty shocked and appalled by the description of them. The pack sat around the kitchen table at the Hale house, staring at the wood of the table as if it was the most interesting thing, while each of them tried to figure out what it meant. Stiles had told them about the police report when they had all gotten there, how the police thought that the poor girl was hallucinating since the person with her refused to corroborate the story. 

"So what's the plan then? We only know what Stiles found in his research and nothing against his research abilities but it's not like you can just find this stuff on Google. Do we even have a plan right now?" Jackson wasn't attacking Stiles, although Stiles still flipped him off for the hell of it. 

"For now, we stick to what we know. They can't replicate our werewolf abilities so we'll use that as how we'll let each other know it is us. As for Allison and Stiles, you'll have to figure out things to say or do to let us know who you are." Allison and Stiles smiled lightly at one another. The others could flash their eyes and they'd know, but the humans needed something else.

"What are we going to do though? Attack or stay back and see what happens?" Scott moved forward, gripping Allison's hand as he did so. Derek looked up from the table and shook his head.

"Right now we need to stay back. The best offensive move we could make right now is to not make one. If we try to attack unprepared, we could be walking into a trap. We keep up with our day to day lives, we train like normal, you go to school or work or practice, and we'll see what happens. Give it a week before we start thinking about our next move." 

Everyone agreed on the plan, silently trying to figure out how they were going to live life like normal when every person they come across will be a suspect. Stiles was already a pretty paranoid individual, he didn't need more excuses. After everyone left for the night, Stiles helped Derek clean up and started to pull on his shoes.

"I don't like you living out here by yourself." Derek grabbed his own jacket and slipped into his shoes.

"You know they can't replicate the--" Stiles stood up quickly, his arms flying out wildly as he started to speak.

"I don't just mean because the crazy cloning creatures are out and about, but because something could happen to you and we wouldn't know. You live so far out here, away from everyone else. I know that if the mirror you, I'll know it because you won't be able to get all red eyed and furry, and that's great. But that doesn't mean they won't get you anyways. And we don't know if they know you killed that one. What if that makes it a war? Or what if they don't lock you in your basement, which you don't even have thank you very much, but they take you and--"

Derek surged forward, their lips connecting and successfully cutting off Stiles' long-winded rant. He wasn't going to lose his train of thought, knew exactly how the sentence was going to end, but Derek did something with his tongue and his hips and Stiles forgot that he was trying to make a point and simply tried to kiss the life out of Derek.

And the part of him that wants to say something gets swallowed by the part of him that just needs this, needs this little bit of normalcy to mask the terror that he sometimes feels when he remembers those creatures or the hollowness he feels when he remembers the way Derek wouldn't look at him when they got in the car the first time they faced the not-Stiles-shade in the snow filled woods. He knew the taste and feel of Derek's mouth and it was something normal, something familiar, and something that he couldn't imagine on anyone else.

Derek pulled away way too quickly and stopped Stiles from following him. 

"Your dad will be getting home soon and you have school in the morning." Stiles groaned, dropping his head onto Derek's shoulder.

"Don't remind me. I don't know what I'm more worried about, the shades or Harris and his cruelty to humans by pop quiz." Derek laughed, jostling Stiles enough that he pulled back and sighed. They checked to make sure they had their keys before leaving, Derek locking the door behind them. 

They drove in their own vehicles as usual, Derek right behind Stiles the whole way. It was a waste of gas and time, but after the number of times Stiles had been attacked leaving Derek's by himself, it was nice. When they pulled up in front of the Stilinski house, Derek was opening Stiles' door before his car was even fully shut off. The cruiser was parked in front of the garage so his dad was already home.

"Okay. I'll text you tomorrow and keep you updated on the mundane goings on of high school. Text me if any old ladies try to pinch your ass again." Derek's face reddened, a sight Stiles rarely saw. 

"It was one time, Stilinski; I swear you'll never drop that." He bent down and kissed Stiles softly before heading back to his car. Stiles shivered at the loss of warmth before making his way to the house, tripping up the steps while waving at Derek's car as it pulled out of the driveway.

His dad was in the living room, watching television with a strange look on his face. Stiles dropped his keys into the bowl by the door, shrugging his jacket off and hanging up before kicking his shoes at the wall.

"Anything good on?" His dad looked at him and smiled, shaking his head as he looked back at the screen.

"It's just a show called Survivor." Stiles looked at the television and then to his dad, shaking his head as he headed towards the stairs. 

"Strange tastes in late night television dad. I'm going to take a shower and hit the hay, which is not a saying I understand but whatever. You work in the morning or tomorrow night?" He paused on the steps when his dad didn't answer right off.

"Sorry son, just wanted to catch the last of the show. I work in the morning." Stiles acknowledged it, telling his dad goodnight as he went up the stairs. He didn't have any homework to pretend to do, so he quickly took a shower before hopping into bed, setting his alarm and rolling over. Whether or not he'd actually get any sleep was yet to be seen.

\-------

"High school should be one of the tortures for high security prisons." Stiles hadn't addressed the statement to anyone, but Danny grunted his agreement while he flipped through one of his text books.

"Right up there with water boarding and watching political debates with my uncle Frankie." Danny's voice was pitched low even though they were in the lunch room. He seemed a little harried but Lydia had announced when they got there that they'd heard from someone who had their business class earlier in the day that there was already a pop quiz. 

"Is anyone else looking at everyone and wondering if they are actually them?" Allison's voice was even lower than Danny's, her head tilted inwards so no one else would hear it. Stiles tried to scoff but the truth was that he looked at everyone twice now. 

"It is making me think about how everyone usually acts and made me realize that I don't pay that much attention." Jackson's voice sounded bored while he twirled a pencil between his fingers, eyes roaming over the cafeteria. The rest of the table sort of shot him a collective look before Scott voiced what they were all thinking.

"None of us are surprised." Jackson threw the pencil at Scott, which turned into a slight growl-and-try-to-look-menacing-without-drawing-attention-to-their-table fight before everyone burst into laughter together with Lydia stealing one of Stiles’ text books to hide just in case the throwing kept on.

"No, but Allison's right. We all have a fool proof way of knowing if we are ourselves, but what about everyone else? We just have to assume until they do something out of the ordinary? Well what if the shades start following people or something? They don't get our memories but it can't be too much to fake normalcy. Look how well the one that took over Danny did."

Lydia had a point and Stiles hated her for it. They didn't know Danny wasn't Danny for a week? He acted normal, went about his normal schedule. The only thing that had clue Stiles in was that he just seemed off, and then the party when he hadn't acted like himself. That was what it took, a split second for Stiles to think that Danny wasn't who he was supposed to be.

But what if he was wrong? What if it had been Danny acting strange just because? He would have made the pack capture him and put him in a room to be pumped full of gas. That would have sucked. 

"Don't jump to any conclusions. If someone is acting weird, get a second opinion. We can't afford to make any mistakes." Stiles would never have thought he'd be the voice of reason, but everyone nodded their agreement and when the bell rang to signal lunch was over, Stiles fished his phone out of his pocket and thumbed through his contacts before shooting off a text to Derek letting him know what they were going to do if someone was acting strange.

He got his reply just as he settled in to his next class.

_Good plan. We can't make any mistakes._

Stiles wanted to tell him that that's exactly what he'd said when he'd proposed the idea, but he had to push his phone back into his pocket as the class started. The rest of the day went by fast considering how slowly school usually ticked on for him. Even class with Harris went by quickly, with the man only calling Stiles out twice. Stiles vaguely wondered how he would know if Harris was actually a shade. He guessed it would be if the man ever decided to be nice.

He was on his way to the jeep when he ran into Allison. Literally into her. He grabbed her arm to steady her, laughing as they grabbed the items they dropped.

"What, don't want to watch lacrosse practice again?" She wrinkled her nose and shook her head, pulling her hair back behind her ear as she looked around. Stiles leaned forward and then grabbed her wrist.

"Allison, I think you lost an earring." She blinked up at him before reaching up, grabbing first one ear and then the next.

"Oh no, I lost both of them. Crap, how did that happen? They were a present from my grandmother for Christmas." Stiles looked around them, to see if the tinkling earrings she'd been wearing at lunch had fallen when the collided. 

"You lost them between lunch and now. What classes did you have? Did you go to the bathroom at all?" She bit her lip and looked over her shoulder, eying the school as the doors were being shut and undoubtedly locked.

"It's... it's okay. I'll find them tomorrow. Hopefully they'll still be there." She sighed, scuffing her shoes together as she watched a few of the last stragglers leave the parking lot.

"You never answered me. Decide not to watch lacrosse practice today?" She glanced wide eyed at the side of the school where the field was and laughed.

"Uh, no, I don't think I will. Are... are you going?" Stiles shook his head, also letting his eyes going to the field. 

It'd been hard to decide not to play again. Between his injury and just not making it back to where he'd been getting better with Danny's help, he decided he didn't want to go through it. Scott, Jackson, and Danny still enjoyed the sport. He'd root them on during games but he wasn't going to go to practices. Especially with having to deal with Finstock in class calling him out on quitting the team. He didn't need it there too.

"No, definitely not. Probably just going to head home, do some homework, and then maybe meet up with Derek and the rest of you goons. I don't know, we'll see. What about you?" She shrugged, hoisting her bag higher up on her shoulder.

"I've got some stuff to do back home, plus homework. I'll see you tomorrow?" He nodded, climbing into his jeep and speeding off. He was halfway home when he realized that Lydia had the text book from his first class, which he needed to do his homework. She would be at the school to watch the practice, so he reversed and went back the way he came. He parked in his usual spot and started towards the field, stopping when he saw Allison's car. She wasn't in it, so he assumed she decided to stay and watch the practice anyway.

He made his way to the field, hopping up the bleachers to where Lydia and Allison were sitting, hoping she still had his book on her. If not, he'd have to go in when the coach let them in to shower and change and sneak through the school to get to her locker.

"Hey Lyds, do you have my book you stole during lunch?" She swung around and smiled at him, fishing through her bag before handing it to him. He smiled and held it aloft as if she'd just handed him the Holy Grail making the girls laugh. Just as he opened his mouth to ask Allison why she decided to watch the practice, he noticed something that made his stomach clench.

"Allison, where did you find your earrings?" She wrinkled her nose in confusion and touched her ear, feeling the earrings that hung there.

"I bought them a year ago I think. Why?" He shook his head and sat down beside Lydia, staring at Allison's earrings.

"No. I thought. You said they were a present from your grandmother for Christmas." Her eyebrows furrowed and she shook her head, the earrings making a light jangling noise as she did so.

"That's impossible Stiles, both of my grandmothers passed away years ago." Stiles licked his lips, wiping his hand over his mouth and looking across the field to the parking lot.

"There was a shade here and it was you." Stiles' voice broke as he spoke while Lydia and Allison shared a look of identical horror.

"Are you sure?" Lydia's voice wavered. She knew Stiles wouldn't joke about it. He nodded anyways.

"I was leaving and I literally ran into Allison. I saw she wasn't wearing her earrings and she told me that her grandmother got them for her for Christmas and she'd find them later. We discussed that neither of us were going to the practice and then I left. I came back for my book and..." He motioned that they were caught up by then. Allison was paler than usual and Lydia met Stiles' eyes, giving him a brief nod. Between the two of them, the got her up and gathered up their stuff and left the bleachers, heading to the cars. The got into Allison's since it was closest, turning the heat up.

"Is this what you feel like Stiles, knowing that something out there can pretend to be you?" Stiles shrugged because he tried not to think about it.

"But that's just it, why did it turn into you when it saw me? Why wouldn't it be Derek?" He didn't think he was harboring secret feelings for Allison but what did he know? 

"Maybe it didn't turn into Derek because it knew he'd have no reason to be coming out of the school." Lydia's voice was hopeful but Stiles shook his head.

"No, because we weren't really in the school, we were in the parking lot. If they knew Derek had no reason to be there, they could have said they were just around. It mirrors your subconscious and no offense Allison but it would have been Derek or my dad. It had to have already been mirroring you, which means..."

Which means there was a good chance that Allison was going to be kidnapped and held prisoner in her body in a basement somewhere. They looked between them and Stiles nodded, grabbing his phone and shooting off a text to Derek. Practice would be ending soon, so he sent an emergency text to the three wolves that they needed to get out there as soon as they could. He didn't want to leave Lydia and Allison alone, although what he could do if a shade came up to them right now was kind of moot since his crossbow was in his car on the other side of the parking lot.

His phone vibrated in his hand and he checked the name before answering.

"Where is she?" Derek's voice was low, his words coming out in a rush. The text had been a little vague.

"Real Allison is right here with us. Here's something to think about, I don't think the shades can replicate jewelry. There's something to think about. But other than that, it might have been scoping out her schedule before it becomes her and she becomes Sleeping Beauty in a basement somewhere." He heard Derek huff, either in stressed amusement at Stiles' unique perspective or out of frustration. Either way, Stiles waited. He could see the guys heading their direction, slowly since the rest of the team seemed to be around, but still fast enough they'd be there soon.

"Okay, once the others get out of practice, get here. We need to rethink our strategy." Derek's voice was rough so Stiles mumbled they'd be there soon and hung up.

He stepped out of the car with the girls once everyone got there. Scott hugged Allison tight while Lydia latched onto Jackson. Stiles eyed Danny and shook his head.

"Don't look at me dude, I'm not hugging you." That made everyone laugh a little, relieving some of the tension as the group broke off to head to Derek's house. They needed to figure out what to do.

\-------

It was a game of which wolf could stay sitting for the shortest amount of time before pacing. Watching them take turns pacing the carpet was actually making Stiles a little motion sick. Allison barely noticed, having regained some confidence and self control on the ride over, and was now in the anger stage. Lydia seemed to be with Stiles in counting the number of times each of the other wolves got up and paced like caged animals.

"Okay, can we all take a seat or at least just tread carpet on one side of the room? My head is starting to hurt." The four wolves glared at Stiles but did stop pacing so much.

"So what's our plan? We can't just wait it out now, not if they are targeting Allison. We have to do something." Danny's voice cut through the silence that came with the four of them not constantly pacing. They all looked at one another before all eyes went to Derek. Stiles hated that that's how it had to be, that they all had to look to him to know everything and have all the answers. They worked together for it but at the end of the day, they needed his guidance.

"We need to figure out what's they want. Figure out if it's something we can give them or if they need to be run out of here. But first we need to know how to fight them." Stiles licked his lips before raising his hand, something he did in most of these types of meetings that never failed to have Derek roll his eyes at him.

"I have a few articles that trace back to specific towns. There are even a few that aren't that far away. Maybe if there is someone there that knows what happened, they can tell us what to expect." 

"What do you propose; we send someone to a town away from here and hope they don't attack before then?" Allison was looking at Derek even though Stiles had been the one to mention it. Derek shook his head, his eyes not meeting any of the other's, not even Stiles'.

"We need to divide and conquer. Someone needs to go to one of those other towns to see what they can find out, but we need to grab one of these guys and try to get it to talk." Derek's voice had the commanding tone it took whenever they were talking battle plans but Lydia crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head, her hair flipping out as she did so.

"What's your great plan Derek; we grab it and drag it back here? I'm hoping you have a better plan than that because between those teeth and those fingers, I'm not getting near that thing." Lydia's voice wasn't wavering as she questioned their alpha, something she probably got away with since she wasn't a full blown werewolf and Derek still wasn't too sure what could happen with her.

"We'll use one of the prototypes from Argent's vast weaponry. He has to have something to paralyze or knock a creature unconscious, right Allison? We'll use one of those to capture one, bring it back here and question it." 

The pack looked between themselves before nodding. All that was really left to do was to figure out the where and when, who was going to go to the other town and find out what the creatures did while there. Divide and conquer, that's what Derek called it.

And while they made those plans, Stiles was busy working on his own back up plans. It never hurt to be prepared.

\-------

There was a slight chill in the air that made Stiles shiver despite the jacket he had on. It wasn't too thick, didn't want to be weighed down if he was going to be spending a lot of the night on the run. He'd cut the fingers off a pair of gloves so that he could have more mobility, but while practical for use, it wasn't very practical for warmth. He stuck his hands into his jean pockets, jumping up and down and running in place to try to heat himself up. He had a little glass sphere in the pocket of his hoodie, just like the one that Derek had wherever he was at the moment.

And at some point Stiles was going to question how he became bait.

Jackson had gone off to the other town to question some people that were mentioned in the article. He planned on calling the moment he got any information worth using. That left the rest of them running around the woods, hoping to stumble upon a shade. They were in two groups, with Danny and Allison with Stiles while Derek, Scott, and Lydia ran on the other side of the woods. 

Allison was perched in a tree, her arrows poised as she looked around them. Danny was somewhere behind a tree, ready to pounce if the need arose. They'd been out there for an hour, trekking around before Stiles finally decided they should wait and let a shade come to them. 

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out, glancing at the name before accepting the call.

"Stiles, listen, the creatures aren't affected by whatever is in these damn orbs. Derek hit one directly and it just got really angry and took off, but it's running straight for you. We're going to try to corner it, get Allison and Danny ready." Scott's voice was rushed, the noises in the background making it obvious they were running. Stiles swore as he slipped the phone back into his pocket, telling Allison and Danny to get ready. Allison dropped from the tree gracefully as she notched another arrow and cast a look in the direction the shade would be coming from.

It was frightened which meant if it wasn't already mirroring someone's subconscious, it would mirror one of their's. And since Derek was the one that attacked it, that meant there was a very high chance that Stiles was about to go one on one with himself. 

Hopefully it couldn't mirror his stubbornness.

Suddenly there was a noise and they all snapped to attention as the creature came into view, warped in its natural state. He came to a stop ten feet away from the three of them, its face trying to morph but unable to pick one subconscious to mirror. Suddenly the other three wolves were behind the shade, causing it to be boxed in.

The only problem was that they had been relying on the spheres to do most of their work for them. Now it was time for Stiles to implement his own plan. Before he could, Lydia stepped around, trying to get into a better position, but the shade locked on the movement and before their eyes, it shimmered into Jackson. Lydia froze, staring at her boyfriend, eyes wide and a little frightened. Stiles stepped forward, ignoring the growl that came from Derek's general direction, causing not-Jackson to turn and look at him.

"Why are you here?" At Stiles' question, the creature turned its head to the side. There had to be another reason the creature took on an image. It wasn't trying to scare them; it wasn't trying to trick them. But the research said they couldn't talk in their natural state without causing itself pain, so maybe this was what needed to be done.

"You chased me." Jackson's voice sounded just as arrogant as it usually did, which made Stiles almost smile. It was being literal, much as the other one had been in the dungeon. Stiles shook his head.

"No, I mean why are you here in Beacon Hills?" 

The creature looked around the group, not-Jackson's eyes looking at each person before looking at Stiles again.

"We go where we are needed." The voice, Jackson's voice mixed with something else, caused a shiver to go up Stiles' spine. Was there something to the creature looking at each member of the group?

"Why are you needed here?" Derek's voice sounded from behind the creature but it didn't move, didn't even seem to hear it. Instead, not-Jackson kept staring at Stiles as if willing him to understand. One hand in his pocket, fingers running over the sphere there, Stiles had to wonder...

"Why are you needed here?" Stiles voiced the same question that Derek had just said and waited. Not-Jackson smiled a little, the beginnings of its teeth starting to come through.

"We have a job to do." The creature stepped closer to Stiles, causing the whole group to tighten around them. Stiles shot Derek a look, telling him to back off. This wasn't going to go well if the others got too close.

"What job?" Not-Jackson tilted his head at Stiles' question, his eyes flashing inky black before returning to human. The shade was breaking through the image, which was not a nice thing to see. Stiles fumbled with the orb in his pocket and threw it, watching as the glass shattered and the gas made the shade collapse. 

Stiles slumped as they looked at the creature, having reverted back to its normal state when it collapsed.

"It had to be taking the image of a human for the gas to work? How did you know that?" Allison still kept her arrow pointed at the creature while the wolves were still phased, watching the creature with varying expressions.

"I didn't, not for sure. Was just working on a hunch." He heard a deep growl, felt a pulse of anger that didn't belong to him, and mentally prepared himself for the berating he was going to get either here or back at the house.

"Are we still taking it back to the house?" At Danny's question, everyone looked at Derek who, in his own defense, was doing a magnificent job pretending to not be glaring at Stiles. 

"Yes. Allison and Stiles, head back to make sure we can get in without trouble. If it wakes up between here and there, just let it get away." Derek's word as law, Stiles and Allison took off at a run to the house. Once there, Stiles pushed the garage door up and fumbled with his keys to open the door that lead to the dungeon. He flicked on the light and waited. 

They were starting to get antsy when the group arrived, the creature still passed out between them. The carried it down the stairs and through the hallways, finally locking it in a different room from the one where they had killed the first one. Derek eyed the manacles on the wall before just leaving the creature in the middle of the floor, typing on the key pad once they were out to lock the door.

"Why didn't you lock him up?" Stiles voiced the question before he remembered he probably shouldn't be drawing attention to himself. Derek glared at him before sighing, rubbing his hand over his face.

"I'm trying to give it something so that when we come back down here it will be more cooperative. Besides, there very well might be a reason it can't replicate jewelry. Maybe something about metals does something to it."

Which was a very good point. The group made their way up the stairs, shutting and locking the door behind them, and then into the house. Kitty skittered out of the room, obviously having been somewhere or doing something she wasn't supposed to, but Stiles didn't pay any attention as Derek grabbed his arm and started to haul him upstairs.

"We'll be back guys. And if we're not, please come save me!" Stiles' voice went up an octave as Derek dragged him up the stairs, steadying him so he wouldn't trip and fall. Once on the second floor, he basically threw him into Derek's room and shut the door behind him.

"You do know they'll still be able to hear you yelling at me from up here? Okay, okay." He sat down while Derek glared at him, eyes flashing red for a second before settling to his normal color again. 

They sat in silence for what felt like ages before Derek had seemed to calm himself down enough to talk.

"While I understand what you did, I don't understand why you didn't tell me your plan." Derek's voice was calm, but it was just an act. He knew it was just an act because his eyes flashed while he spoke and Stiles could read the tension in his arms and shoulders like a book.

"What makes you think it wasn't an improvisation?"

Derek growled at that and took a step forward, looking a little like he wanted to shake Stiles. There was no physical violence in their relationship, at least not between them, so Stiles held his hand off and was pleased to see that Derek stopped moving.

"You've been planning something since we came up with the first plan. You make the back up plans but usually when the first plan is going to hell, not before. You're supposed to tell me these things so we can decide what is best." Derek's voice had gone soft in a way Stiles rarely heard, fear laced with resignation that Stiles never thought two steps ahead if he could help it. Stiles reached out and grabbed Derek's wrist.

"Are you saying this as my boyfriend or as my alpha?" He felt Derek tense before he lowered himself onto the bed beside Stiles.

"I'm saying this as your alpha. We have to make these decisions together. You surprised me and that's dangerous during something like that. All I have to do is lose my concentration for a second and something can get the best of us. The wolves feed on my focus and if they think I'm distracted, they will be distracted." Stiles nodded, understanding where Derek was coming from.

"Okay, I'm sorry. Next time I come up with a kickass plan that works, I'll run it by you if I have time. Otherwise we'll do hand signals or something in the middle of a battle." He was being half joking and half serious, knowing that Derek was making a very good point.

"Now as your mate, if you ever do something as stupid as drawing the complete attention of a creature we don't understand or know anything about, I'll kill you myself." Derek's voice was low, somewhat threatening, but Stiles just smiled and launched himself to hug Derek tight to him.

"Aw, I always knew you cared!" While Stiles peppered him with kisses between words, Derek couldn't help but laugh. 

Their playfulness was cut short as the door opened and Lydia looked between them, rolling her eyes as she did.

"Hate to break this up boys, but Jackson's back."

\-------

Jackson was sitting on the couch between Danny and Allison, looking like he'd been there for hours when Derek and Stiles had only been upstairs for a few minutes. Stiles stumbled over Danny's outstretched feet before settling on the love seat with Scott.

"What'd you find out Jackson?" Derek stayed standing at the front of the room while Lydia dropped herself onto the arm of the love seat closest to Stiles.

"I found the people and places referenced in those articles Stilinski found pretty easily, but they weren't looking to be very helpful. I finally had to tell them that those things were in our town and we'd already had a few run ins with them. The guy freaked out, told me we should just pack our bags and leave. You know what wasn't in those articles? That thirteen people died while those things were in their town. They all just stopped, no apparent cause of death. There are still open cases because they think some poison might have been involved, but whatever it was, it killed them. Thing is, these people seemed fine the days before they were found dead." Jackson had leaned forward to tell his tale, catching everyone's eyes as he did.

"Which means the shades were pretending to be them for god knows how long before they were killed. That one said that they can't use someone's likeness if they are dead." Derek raked a hand through his hair as he spoke, eyes boring into the carpet as if it had personally offended him.

"I think it might be time to go downstairs and talk to the one we capture, figured out what it meant by doing their job." Stiles stood up but Lydia grabbed his arm and kept him from moving.

"Did anyone else notice that the thing wouldn't talk to Derek but answered Stiles?" Her voice was quiet, but it drew everyone's attention. 

It hadn't passed Stiles' noticed that when Derek had asked it a question it ignored him but when Stiles asked the same question, it answered. He didn't even want to begin to fathom what that could mean. The one in the basement had spoken to Derek but couldn't stop looking at Stiles. The thought was making him a little queasy. Why? What was so interesting about him?

"As much as I don't want to say this, Stiles will need to be in there with me. That thing might not answer me, but it'll answer him." It seemed like the last thing Derek wanted to say, but once the words were out, everyone was in agreement. They made their way to the garage, grabbing a few of the spheres from the metal box Allison had brought them over in before going down the stairs. 

The gas wouldn't do anything unless the shade took a form, which wasn't guaranteed to happen. The back up plan was for them to leave the room as soon as possible and for Derek to flood it with gas if things got too difficult.

Outside of the door, Derek brought up the little screen, watching as the creature stood in the corner of the room, inky eyes looking at the wall as if it might reveal some great mystery to him. With a nod to Derek, Stiles positioned himself between Derek and Scott as they made their way into the room, knowing the others would be watching and would open the door if they had to.

The creature cocked its head to the side, those black eyes moving over first Scott and then Stiles before landing on Derek. It then turned its full attention on Stiles. In turn Stiles gave Derek a quick glance before stepping forward and placed himself in front of the shade.

"Why are you here?" And he had to give himself credit because Stiles had never heard his voice this forceful before. He was tired of playing games with these things. He was tired of looking at everyone and wondering.

Instead of answering, the creature simply smacked its lips around its terrifying teeth, grinning so that every sharp edge could be seen in the dull yellow light.

"It hurts to speak in this form right? So change. Mirror my subconscious if you want." Stiles put his hands in his pockets as he spoke, trying to look unintimidating but fingering the two small glass spheres he had there. The creature cocked its head to the side, mouth opening wide in a smile before it shimmered. Before him stood his father as if he was dressed for a normal day around town, sans his uniform or badge or, thankfully, gun.

"This is your father, isn't it?" Hearing his dad speak the words the creature wanted to say was unnerving but Stiles nodded.

"Why are you here?" Stiles wasn't backing down, wasn't going to get distracted. His father or not, he needed answers.

"You brought me here." Shades apparently were either very literal or they just liked pissing Stiles off. He straightened his shoulders, his jaw tightening as he took a steadying breath.

"Why are you here in Beacon Hills, what job is it that you have to do?" 

Stiles' not-dad opened his mouth and Stiles half expected that piercing scream that made him so weak before, but instead it was a soft laugh.

"My kind protects." It was like extracting teeth, trying to get a straight answer out of one of these things. Stiles took another deep breath before trying again.

"Protects what from what?" His not-dad tilted his head, his smile coming out around those teeth. It looked wrong and it made Stiles want to throw an orb already. Instead he waited.

"Protects humans from themselves." That sounded ominous at best. Stiles took another step forward, trying not to notice that Derek and Scott both flanked him before his feet even settled.

"By killing them, like you killed the thirteen people in the other town?" It was strange to watch his dad's face morph a little at a time. This is what happened when a shade didn't have the person they were trying to copy, it phased between images.

"Only thirteen?" It felt like a weight had settled in his stomach. Were there more in that town? Or was that not the most recent town the shades had been to and therefore, one of the other towns had a higher body count? He didn't want to think about it, didn't want to know.

"What had those people done that meant they should be killed?" Stiles watched as his father's face seemed to shimmer before becoming clear again, his normal teeth in his mouth once more.

Instead of answering, the creature in his dad's image looked between both Scott and Derek, his mouth stretching in a way Stiles' had never seen his father smile before. And he never wanted to, if that's what it looked like. But it made that weight in Stiles' stomach start to turn to acid. Were they werewolves, those other people that were killed? Is that why the creature kept looking at them whenever Stiles brought up the job? He saw Derek signal that they should hurry up but he had to know.

"Were they werewolves?" His dad smiled again, his teeth growing points and elongating. They would have to gas the creature soon or else it would phase completely and it wouldn't work.

"If you lie down with dogs, you'll rise with fleas." 

Stiles was about to launch into a rant about these damn things and their riddles when a little glass orb flew from beside him and crashed into the creature, with Derek pulling Stiles a safe distance away. The creature fell, turning back to its natural shape before it even hit the floor. They were out of the room before the gas disappeared.

\-------

"I mean, is it so hard to get a yes or no answer out of one of these damn things? Seriously, I feel like I'm talking to the Sphinx or something." Stiles wasn't disappointed about being pulled from the dungeon, although he might have done a little fussing at the way he was manhandled up the steps. He didn't know why that thing would only talk to him, but he didn't like it. He didn't like having to figure out what these things are doing and what it meant for the pack. Really, they should just open fire in the woods and hope for the best.

"Don't you listen though? It might not have said that the people were werewolves, but it insinuated. That they were werewolves, but maybe not all of them. Some of the people might just be acquainted with wolves. Like in a pack or even just dating one without knowing it." Lydia's voice was calm, but her face was murderous. The duality of her personality actually scared Stiles sometimes.

"Great, so what, they are like hunters with an even worse moral code than the Argents? Uh, no offense Allison." Stiles cast a cautious glance at Allison who glared at him before rolling her eyes. 

"So are we screwed or what? These things want to kill us and the people we're acquainted with? That's not cool. And first they want to ride around in their own little versions of us, and do what? What's the point of becoming other people if their sole intent is to kill them?" Scott's voice was rising, a little hysterical in a way that Stiles remembered from when he was first bit. They weren't novices, one of them had been for a while, but this was something new for all of them.

They all stared at various inanimate objects, each lost in their own thoughts, before Derek spoke.

"What if they need something from becoming another person? Energy source or something." 

"What, like recharging their batteries in a human console? That's really creepy and... really possible." Stiles slumped against the couch. Shades were using humans and werewolves as battery chargers before killing them? Great, that was just great. It sounded like a party.

"Allison, what's the chance your dad will side with us and try to help us figure out a plan? We'll need more than just the pack to take on however many shades that might come for us." Jackson's voice interrupted Stiles' mental freak out and he focused on Allison for her answer.

"The pact still holds. You aren't attacking humans and the shades are planning on killing us and people connected to us, which will involve innocent bystanders. He'll back us." She moved off into the kitchen to make the call. 

Derek moved to the front of the room to grab everyone's attention.

"We need to keep an eye out for each other. We now know this isn't random, so try not to worry about people you see every day and have no connection to. Families and any friends outside of the pack are to be added to the danger list, but we should also be very careful. They got one of us and copied another, so we should assume we're very much the targets. If any of us start acting strange, don't act differently. Send out a text and get as many people here as you can. Carry the gas distributors in your cars or pockets whenever you can to drop someone. If the shade won't tell you where the person is, split up into patrol groups and try to sniff them out." Derek looked at each person as he spoke, making sure they saw how serious he was.

"And we should also remember they can't replicate a werewolf's abilities, so you guys are easier to tell if you've been taken over. For Allison and myself and our family members, talk about things in the past and get them talking. If something doesn't add up, be suspicious. Remember, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you." Everyone sent Stiles a small smile at his little speech, adding on to what Derek had said. He glanced at the alpha to make sure he hadn't stepped on any toes but Derek simply nodded before looking out of the window.

"Everyone should head home, it's getting dark. Remember to stay alert. Keep your cell phones on you at all times and if you see something that you think needs to be looked at closer, let us know. Get a second opinion before you try to bring someone down though, just so you don't have to explain to your mom or dad why you knocked them out with a glass sphere filled with a chemical to make you pass out." No one was sure if Derek was trying to be funny or not, but everyone gave tense laughs before heading out of the house, Allison telling them all that her dad would be with them at the next meeting by himself to talk game plan.

"We should bring my dad into the next meeting too. He'll need to know that ordinary citizens aren't in danger but that we are." Stiles wasn't looking forward to that conversation. His dad was getting better at accepting that Stiles was part of a pack of werewolves that fought crime (sort of), but the part where he was constantly in danger, as well as he friends, was a little off putting.

"Try to focus on school as much as you can. Despite the fact that we are now fighting for our lives, again, you guys are still in your most important year of high school." Derek was definitely grinning, although it wasn't very funny, because Stiles started to groan before he even finished the sentence.

"No, no, no. Can't you write me a sick note or something? Surely I can't be expected to fight for my life and the life of my friends and worry about classes and homework and exams?"

Derek wrapped his arms around Stiles' shoulders and pulled him close, pressing their lips together in a chaste kiss.

"Go home. Do your homework. I might try to run down to the other towns in your research and see how many of those bodies are actually werewolves."

Stiles started to walk towards the door but stopped, turned and glanced at the door that lead to the garage.

"Don't go down there by yourself Derek." His voice bore no negotiation. Derek nodded, moving with Stiles to the front door.

"Not that it would talk to me anyways."

\--------

Stiles felt like he hadn't been home in days, although he was home every night before curfew. He trudged up the stairs, pushing his door open with a little more force than necessary and tossing his book bag onto his bed. It had been two days since they realized that the pack was the main target of the shades. Which meant two school days of pretending everything was okay and pretending to care about things that didn't matter at the moment and pretending not to worry that every person in his life might be a target.

Really, he should go into acting, because no one besides the pack seemed to know he was even distracted. 

His dad was home when he got there, but he didn't see him when he had made his way up the stairs, but after face planting on his bed for a moment, he rolled over and remembered his dad telling him he was working all day. So why was the cruiser there?

He made his way down the stairs after peering into his dad's room and finding it empty. He called out a few times to no response. The house was quiet, everything turned off. But one look out the front window told him his dad had to be there. He was starting to worry but then he heard something coming from behind the house.

He tiptoed to the back door and peered out of the window. His dad was shuffling the grill around, dusting it off and taking parts out of it. Stiles sighed, happy to see his dad, but confused. He opened the door and smiled as he watched him clean the grill.

"I thought you said you were working all day." His dad jumped and then laughed, passing his clean left hand over his face. Stiles watched the hand move.

"I was supposed to but they said I needed to rest. Apparently as the sheriff, I need to take a break every now and then. I thought we could grill out." His dad sounded happy and hopeful, something Stiles hadn't really heard in a while. Except recently. Recently he'd been happy.

Stiles turned and faced the door again before spinning back to look at his dad.

"Totally, yeah. Do you need any help down here because I've got some killer homework I need to finish and I can put it on the side if you need me to?" His dad laughed, once more scrubbing his left hand over his face before shaking his head.

"No son, I think I can handle this part. I'll call you down when it is done." Stiles nodded, giving his dad a bright smile before rushing back into the house, taking the stairs two at a time and sliding into his room.

He shut the door and thought twice before locking it. He paced a bit before finally reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. He took a deep breath before dialing Derek's number.

"I already told you that we are meeting Friday Stiles, stop asking." Stiles shook his head, because yeah he had called and bugged Derek about that during lunch today because he was getting restless and starting to get tired of all of his friends quizzing him on personal stuff, but this wasn't about that.

"No, I need you to listen to me. My dad, okay. My dad isn't wearing his wedding band." There was silence on the other side of the phone and Stiles felt the need to repeat himself, but he held it in. Finally he heard a deep breath.

"Is it at all possible that your dad is moving on Stiles? It's been a long time and--" Stiles couldn't stand to hear Derek finish that sentence.

"No, okay. He's come to terms with it sure, but he still loves and misses my mom and he hasn't taken that ring off as long as I can remember." Stiles' voice was getting high pitched and he took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

"What is he doing right now?" Stiles moved to his door and listened through the wood but he couldn't hear anything.

"He was cleaning the grill, and before you say it, no he didn't take it off to clean the grill. He's cleaned the grill with it on before. He's fixed cars with it on his hand. He's put his hand in the garbage disposal with it on. This is serious Derek. The shades can't replicate metals like jewelry and my dad is missing his wedding ring." His voice, although pitched lower, went shrill and he sat on the bed to try to calm himself. 

"Just breathe Stiles. Okay, we're going to need something of his for some of the pack to sniff him out. I'll send Scott since he knows your dad and Lydia. He's cleaning the grill so he's outside? Okay, well find one of those orbs and keep it on you. Jackson is here already so we'll grab Danny on the way and call Allison so she can meet us at your place. When I call you, use the orb. We'll bring him inside and put him in the shed until we find your dad. Then we'll figure out what to do with him."

Stiles took a deep breath, thinking about the thing that was wearing his dad's face only a few days ago. Now there was another one, one that had been pretending to be his dad for who knows how long. And how long had it been? He couldn't even remember. For some reason he thought his dad was safe.

When his phone rang a little while later, he answered it but Derek had already hung up. He went outside, running his fingers over the orb in his pocket. He was going to gas his dad. He was actually going to do it. But it wasn't his dad. He needed to remember that.

While his not-dad was distracted, he threw the orb and watched as the body slumped, changing shape in front of his eyes. He backed up, shaking his head, as Derek, Danny, and Jackson jumped over the fence surrounding the back yard and lifted the creature, carrying it to the shed. 

"Are you okay?" Derek's voice sounded from somewhere on Stiles' right and he swung around, having not heard him sneak up like that. He nodded, looking at the broken glass on the ground. 

"I just. How long has my dad been missing Derek? I didn't even notice. And I told him about coming to the meeting, was that him or was that this shade? Did he tell his shade buddies? Are they going to attack while we're all together or on the way? I hate this Derek, I hate these damn creatures."

As Derek opened his mouth to respond, they heard a crash and a loud grunt; Jackson yelled ‘SHIT!’ before something barreled through the doors towards them. The shade was running straight for them. Derek angled himself in front of Stiles, already shifted, but before the creature got to them, a whizzing arrow pierced its shoulder and it fell over. Allison was already notching a second arrow, hurrying towards them and aiming it at the creature as it shrunk away, yanking the arrow out and throwing it on the ground, crawling away from them before it jumped up. The creature let out a yell, loud and terrifying, but cut itself off as it launched over the wooden fence and out into the woods.

"Do we chase it?" Derek was still phased, eyes trained on the fence as if the creature was going to come back, and shook his head. 

"No. But follow it as far as you can, both of you. It's bleeding so follow the scent. I want to know where these things are hiding."

Danny and Jackson nodded to one another before they vaulted over the fence. Allison lowered her bow and made her way over to them.

"Glad I ran that red light now. Scott called me. They found your dad in the old police station." The old police station was putting it lightly since it hadn't been used in about fifty years. Stiles couldn't feel his fingers and he nodded, turning to look at the door. He needed to get his keys; he needed to be with his dad.

"Don't worry Stiles, he's fine. Confused as hell, but fine. They are bringing him here." 

Stiles slumped sideways, somehow knowing that Derek would be there. His dad was okay, that's what mattered. They still needed to figure this shit out, figure out what they could do, because these things were starting to piss him off.

\------

He refused to leave his dad's side after he got back, the rest of the pack disbanding to leave the Stilinski men to embrace without witnesses. His dad had been confused, said he remembered going to the station to drop something off and then nothing. Stiles filled him in, realizing that it meant he'd been gone a little less than a week. When he told his dad that it was the wedding ring that gave it away, his dad had looked down at it almost like he'd forgotten it was there, twisting it around his finger before pulling his son to him for another hug.

"So these things, they want you and the others? And apparently anyone close to you. So what do we do, how do we fight them?" His dad went into the kitchen while he spoke, grabbing himself a beer.

"I don't know yet dad. We haven't figured that part out. We have one locked under Derek's house-- don't look at me like that dad-- but it's very The Riddler from Batman."

They sat side by side on the couch while his dad slowly drank his beer, staring at the dark television. At this point, his dad knew everything they did, and he wondered if it would make a difference. If his dad could come up with something that they hadn't. He waited, eyes closed, until his dad started to talk.

"Try threatening it." His dad's voice was very calm and when Stiles looked at him, his face was perfectly calm. It was eerie.

"Like what, holding a gun to its head and asking what it would take to get them to leave? That... might actually work, holy shit." Stiles rushed over to the table where he had put his phone, dialing Derek's number and groaning when it went straight to voicemail.

"I have no idea why your phone is off but you need to call me back, I have an idea. Or my dad did, either way, call me." He hung up before calling once more, just in case it was a fluke, but it went to voicemail again and he hung up before the recorder picked up.

He flopped onto the couch next to his dad and contemplated calling the others and letting them know the potential plan, but he needed to talk to Derek first. He told him he would. Besides, Derek might have already tried even if he promised Stiles that he wouldn't go down there. 

A little while later he tried calling Derek again, to no answer. He was starting to get worried, even going so far as to text the pack to ask if they'd heard from Derek since they'd left the house. Lydia was the first to text back.

_No, is something up?_

Stiles stared at the text and looked at the clock. It had only been just over an hour since they'd left. Was something up? He started to type up his response while his dad got up to answer the ringing house phone.

_No, I was just wondering._

"Stilinski. Yeah Rob, what is it? No, I think I left my phone in the car, what's wrong? Do I need to come in? Uh huh. Uh huh. Huh. No, no. Wait, are you sure? Well how sure Rob? And it's a positive ID? Shit. No, no, I'm coming in. Thanks for calling me."

His dad swore again as he hung up and Stiles found himself a little wary.

"Dad, what is it?" His dad turned around, rubbing both of his hands over his head and sighing.

"There was a double homicide in an alley behind the gas station. The surveillance camera caught an image of the murderer going in and coming out. They have your boyfriend on crystal clear footage." His dad's voice was hard, but not because he believed Derek would do something like that. He was angry because he knew what it meant.

Stiles shot up, unlocking his phone and calling Derek again. Once more it went to voicemail and Stiles swore, opening the conversation with Lydia and forwarding the next text to everyone.

_Derek's been taken and his clone just got fingered for a double murder. Emergency meeting at my house right now._

His phone dinged immediately, a series of texts coming in from each person in the pack plus Allison explaining her dad was coming too. His dad had gone upstairs to put on his uniform and came down strapping his gun onto his hip and eying his son.

"Listen Stiles, you keep your head about all of this and text me updates. Anything I can do to help. I'm going to try to do what I can to get this resolved but it isn't looking good. Not like we can tell them that it was a doppelganger. We'll figure it out."

Stiles gave his dad a hug and then sat down on the couch, legs bouncing up and down as he waited for the pack to get there. They needed to figure this out, and now.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the patient wait. Here you go, the third and final chapter. 
> 
> Brief warning that the rating has gone up because hey, sex. So there's that.
> 
> I love each one of you. Thank you to all of the people who've read this story. I hope people keep enjoying what I write in this fandom as much as you've all enjoyed this. Thank you thank you thank you.
> 
> If you have a tumblr, feel free to come talk to me! www.lemyh.tumblr.com
> 
> Thank you and enjoy!

"How sure are they that it was Derek on the video?" Jackson's voice was calm, but the way his hands kept clenching spoke to just how tense he was. Everyone looked the same, their bodies held tight and uncomfortably. Stiles ran a hand over his head, trying not to freak out that not only was Derek missing, but the entire pack was now looking to him to lead them.

Derek had warned him, had tried to explain that it was because they were mates and that the pack acknowledged it and therefore his word was as good as Derek's in the alpha couldn't be found. It was unnerving, reminded him of just how much he didn't like that they all had to rely on Derek and put so much responsibility on his shoulders. They were a bunch of teenagers and that wasn't any excuse but what was Stiles supposed to say? 

"Dad said they were pretty positive it's him. Let's not focus on that part right now. Right now there is a shade walking around with the ability to look like Derek and that's bad enough but we don't know where Derek is. So here's the plan. Danny and Jackson, I want you two to try to sniff him out." Stiles was sure that his voice wasn't shaking nearly as much as his hands were. 

"What about us?" Lydia was standing, her fingers clenching much the way that Jackson's had been. As Danny and Jackson waited to hear the rest of the plan before going to sniff out Derek, that left Lydia, Scott, Allison and her father with Stiles. Stiles thought it over, eying each person before nodding.

"These things can be hurt. I don't know how many of them there are, but they are in the woods. Chris, get your hunters together and patrol the woods. No one gets in, no one gets out. I don't think I need to tell you not to kill someone unless you're provoked." And honestly Stiles wasn't sure how he felt giving orders to the head of the hunters, but Chris nodded and touched his daughter's shoulders before slipping out. He had more to do, more people to round up, so Stiles hadn't expected him to wait around. If something came up, they could call him.

"And us?" Allison had her bow with her, as if she expected there to be another shoot out in Stiles' backyard. He didn't want to think about that so he took a deep breath and started to speak instead.

"I'm going to need a gun and some back up. We're going to Derek's house and to his basement. The shade down there is either going to tell us what we want to know, or it's dead."

Everyone eyed Stiles carefully. He was usually against violence, the voice of reason that said they should try to run rogue betas out of town instead of attacking if needs be. He didn't want anyone's blood on his hands but now he was giving an ultimatum. He was frenzied in a way that made his skin feel too tight. Derek was somewhere that Stiles couldn't get to him and no matter how much Stiles pushed, he couldn't get anything from their connection as mates. It was like it ceased to be; only it couldn't be. Stiles refused to believe that something had happened to Derek. Those collars must hinder the connection somehow, Stiles didn't care, but he was done playing games.

"This is war and it's our first full on offensive. Danny and Jackson, keep your phones close by. Let us know if you find anything and we'll do the same. Be safe guys." Danny and Jackson nodded before heading out of the house. It wasn't until the sound of Jackson's car was gone that Stiles started to move around the house and gather his stuff.

"We'll need as many weapons as we can get our hands on. Allison, take Lydia to your house and stock up as much as you can and meet us at Derek's. Scott and I are going to be having a little chat with our shade buddy."

Once Lydia and Allison were gone, Stiles stared at the driveway for a moment longer before nodding to himself. He needed to grab a few things and then they would leave. 

On the bookshelf in the living room sat a wooden box. It'd been there as long as Stiles could remember, up higher when he was a kid, locked so he couldn't get to it when he became a dumb teenager. Once his dad found out about the werewolf situation, his dad felt a little more comfortable unlocking it and leaving it within reach. He fumbled with the latch before setting the box down on the coffee table. Inside sat a small six shooter, the bullets in little indentions next to the gun. He checked it like his dad had taught him before loading it.

Scott watched as he worked, his eyes wide before he simply nodded. Stiles didn't want to hear anything, didn't want Scott to ask him if he thought this was a good idea. It was the only plan they had. They couldn't wait any longer. Derek was first priority but finding out how to rid themselves of the shades was important too. And if that's what Stiles could do, he was going to do it.

They ran out to the car after Stiles hid the gun in a spare shirt so that no one would see it. His neighbor was out checking her mail and she waved to the boys who waved back as if nothing was different. Just another day.

Stiles pushed the gun into Scott's lap while he drove, the jeep hurtling down the roads towards Derek's house at speeds that probably would have every cop on his tail if luck wasn't on their side. And if half of the cops in town weren't currently looking for his boyfriend.

Not too far from the house, Scott's phone started to ring and he answered it before the first ring finished.

"Allison? Okay, we're almost at the house. No, we'll leave the front door unlocked. We'll be in the basement." He hung up and carefully slipped his phone back into his pocket. Once that was done, he gave Stiles a brief nod that said everything was on track.

"I don't even think of that thing as a basement, although it kind of counts as one. I just sort of think of it as a dungeon. Funny, huh?" Stiles spoke calmly, ignoring the way his fingers were white knuckled on the steering wheel. He had a rush of 'what if's going through his mind that he was trying to keep from voicing to Scott.

What if Derek was killed? What if they all were? What if they killed all of the shades but Derek was still arrested? What if their loved ones were killed?

He checked his rearview mirror before pushing on the gas pedal a little more.

\------

The house was quiet and dark but Stiles had expected that. Kitty greeted them as they walked in, her meow more urgent than just being attention starved. He went into the kitchen and fed her, giving her more water, before joining Scott in the garage. Stiles used his key to unlock the door, flicked the light on and then stumbled down the stairs with Scott behind him. They kept quiet while Stiles shifted the gun from hand to hand as they followed the wall to the holding room. 

With a deep breath, Stiles typed in the pass code that Derek had given him. Scott walked in front of him, just in case, but the shade was standing in the corner and simply watching the door. With a quick nod to Scott, Stiles stepped forward and drew the shade's attention fully on him.

"Do whatever it is you do because we need to have a little talk." Stiles hefted the gun a bit and watched as the shade's inky black eyes were drawn to the object. 

There was a moment of silence as the creature simply stared at the gun before Stiles saw the ripple of the skin. Stiles blinked and before him stood Derek's likeness, eyes still trained on the gun. He should have known, should have known that the shade would warp itself to become Derek. It mirrored his subconscious and there wasn't anything on his mind at that moment besides Derek, finding Derek in one piece. 

"So here's the thing. One of your friends killed some innocent people today wearing Derek's skin. And they were caught on film, which means Derek is Beacon Hills Most Wanted, again. I want to know why and I want to know what it will take to get you things to leave Beacon Hills without killing anyone else." And really he was pretty impressed with how firm he sounded, how his hand didn't shake and his voice was calm, because inside Stiles felt like everything was about to boil over. 

Not-Derek turned his head to the side, eyes still on the gun. After a few minutes of silence, Stiles started to grow worried, but finally the mouth opened and Derek's voice was there.

"My siblings want the creatures here killed. We are the protectors." Derek's voice and those words made Stiles' spine grow straight, his hand raised with the gun pointed at his mate. Only it wasn't his mate. He needed to remember that.

"Your siblings are killing innocent people. The one that copied Derek killed people in cold blood, innocent people. How can you call yourself a protector if you kill innocent people? If you endanger innocent people?" 

Derek's eyes hardened as they moved from the muzzle of the gun to meet Stiles' eyes.

"Every war has casualties." 

Stiles shook his head as he stepped forward, ignoring Scott as he tried to get him to step away from the creature.

"No. This is not a war because you came in and started to attack us for no reason. They might be werewolves but we don't hurt humans. We don't hurt anyone unless we're protecting ourselves." Stiles tried not to get into his usual habit of gesturing with his hands as he spoke. He needed the gun to be steady. He knew how to shoot, had had protocol and the proper way drilled into him from the moment his dad let him touch a gun. He couldn't make a mistake.

"You creatures kill." It was funny that Derek's mouth was forming those words, that there were flowing out of Derek. The incongruity of it all was a little disarming.

"You're wrong. Look at me; I'm human as can be. And Allison? She's the daughter of a hunter. We have hunters living in town to make sure we aren't a danger, but even if they weren't here! All we want is to be left alone. You things, you used to be human. Don't you realize what you're doing? Wars have casualties but this isn't war. This is murder." His voice was raised and it wasn't until he was finished speaking that Stiles realized what he was doing. He was trying to reason with the shade, trying to find a way out of this mess without bloodshed on either side.

Not-Derek leaned backwards, his head resting against the wall as he stared at Stiles. Scott was still there, still just a foot away, ready to jump in if needed. No matter that the shade resembled the alpha, Scott would protect Stiles.

"The first shade we captured, one that had stole Danny's identity. He didn't copy our subconscious to talk. He spoke in his natural form and then he screamed. So loud that it drained us. Derek had to kill him. Why did that happen?" At Scott's question, the shade sat up and finally looked away from Stiles and his gun.

"You improperly removed the trethoan, the collar. He would not have been able to shift. Unless we are removed from the trethoan properly, we are stuck. The scream was a vorso, a draw of energy. If you hadn't killed him, he would have killed you all." Derek's voice almost sounded... apologetic. Stiles stared at Derek's face, watched for any sign. He knew all of Derek's facial expressions and sure enough, guilt was evident.

It didn't make sense but Stiles wasn't going to press it. Instead he stepped forward again, the gun less than a foot away from Derek's forehead. He had to take a deep breath, remind himself that it wasn't Derek in front of him.

"What will it take for you to leave? All of you." Derek's eyes snapped back to the gun, eyes going black for a second. That was all Stiles needed to remember that this wasn't his boyfriend.

"We cannot leave until we have done our duty." Stiles pressed the gun a little closer, watched as the eyes traced the movement before they narrowed.

"What will it take?" Stiles' voice was firm and commanded a response. He'd heard Derek use the voice with the betas, commanded them to listen and obey. He didn't assert his control over them often because he trusted them.

"There is one thing, vra lothga. A blood oath. If both sides survive, we would be forced to leave." Derek's voice had become garbled and one look told Stiles why. His mouth was full of sharp pointed teeth. Stiles kept his hand steady.

"How do we go about it?" He heard Scott take a deep breath, about to protest, but the not-Derek shook his head.

"We need your alpha."

Of course they did. Stiles looked over at Scott and nodded, eyes shooting to the door and then back. They knew what could be done. Now they just had to worry about everything else.

Namely about finding Derek in one piece and somehow getting him off the new murder charges that he was no doubt already being saddled with.

Scott nodded to show that he understood and Stiles once again faced the not-Derek.

"You wouldn't happen to know where they are hiding Derek, would you? Of course not." Stiles started to walk backwards, never dropping the gun from being pointed at the shade. The further they backed away, the more the image seemed to ripple until the form in front of them was no longer human.

They slipped out of the door, with Stiles having put in the code, before using the same code to lock the door behind them. Barely three steps away from the door, Scott's phone started to ring. Stiles thought it would be Allison until he saw the face that Scott was making.

"Mr. Argent? Yeah. What? No, we're on our way." Scott ended the call and looked at Stiles, face serious in a way that made Stiles feel desperate.

"We need to get to the old Rigley farm. Now."

\-------

They had run into Lydia and Allison as they ran out of the house, Stiles barely remembering to lock it behind him. They divided up some weapons as Scott explained what Allison's dad had told him.

"They found something suspicious at the Rigley farm. He thinks that's where they are keeping Derek because there seems to be a lot of those creatures guarding the area. They've got long distance optics on it, so it doesn't seem like they know they are nearby. Mr. Argent is letting us take the lead for now."

Which roughly translated to, until they messed up. Stiles had no intention of letting it come to that.

On the ride to the old farm, Stiles had Scott set up a conference call with Lydia's phone and Jackson's so they could all get the information.

"We'll meet up with the hunters at the main entrance to the farm. The first and foremost of this is to get Derek out in one piece. If that can be achieved without killing any of them, try. We'll try this blood oath and if that doesn't work, we'll figure something else out." 

They hung up as they got closer to the farm. Scott looked particularly antsy and before Stiles could ask why, he blurted it out.

"The shade said that if both sides survived, they would be forced to leave. That means there is a chance that Derek might not survive. Can we take that risk? We'd be a pack without an alpha."

Scott's concerns were real. They weren't set up with a real pack hierarchy, plus none of them were ready to take over as alpha. They were high school seniors. Not to mention that Derek not surviving... no. It wasn't an option. If they got out of this, Stiles was going to ask more detailed questions about what the vra lothga meant. They would plan; figure out the best way to go about it. And if they risk was too great, they could still plan to kill them all.

"Let's focus on one thing at a time Scott. Get Derek the hell out of there. We'll figure everything else out later." 

Not that their plan was the best in any way. Go in, guns blazing, and hope for the best. Stiles was pretty sure this plan was going to backfire in some way, but that's what they had the hunters there for. 

When they pulled into the entrance, it was to find Chris Argent and two other cars with a few hunters waiting. Stiles shared a look with the group before moving to the hunters. Chris nodded in greeting before passing his thermals over.

"It looks like three or four of those things are in the surrounding woods, plus two outside of the old farm house. We can't tell how many are inside, they look to be bundled up, but if you look at that shape in the far corner. That has to be Hale." 

The shape that Chris determined was Derek wasn't moving and the heat signature was so low that it almost wasn't there, but the shape was definitely human. Stiles focused on the thread of their connection as mates, traced out as far as he could, but he couldn't feel anything. It was like there was a deep void where Derek should be, where Stiles should be able to sense him.

Jackson and Danny came skidding in, nodding to the group as Stiles laid out the plan once more, and making sure the hunters were fully aware of what was going to happen.

"Allison has a few new gadgets she thinks might work since the paralysis gas only works if they are shifted. They are electrocuting darts. Her and I will each have them for our bows. Chris, you should pass a few out amongst your group too. Try not to kill them unless you have to. We'll get in and get the collar off then get him out of there. Everything else is secondary."

They murmured their agreement, albeit the hunters didn't seem happy with taking orders from a teenager, but Chris shot them a look and they went off to do what they could. Stiles loaded his crossbow, tying the bag of extra add-ons to his belt before nodding at the pack.

"Be safe guys." They all nodded, eyes glowing and nails growing. Lydia squeezed Stiles' arm once before they all took their positions.

And like that, it began.

They rushed forward, Stiles and Allison close together with the hunters flanked on either side of the rest of the pack. The wolves had darted ahead, springing out from behind trees every couple of feet. The first shade went down quickly with a bolt from Stiles' crossbow, the lines of electricity shocking it as it fell. At least they knew they worked.

The air became filled with the sounds of the wolves, growls and snarls coupled with the inhuman screams of the shades. Stiles couldn't see who was fighting, didn't stop to see what was going on, and simply kept running until the farm house was in view.

"Stiles look out!" At Allison's warning, Stiles turned around and barely missed getting tackled by a shade. The knife-like fingers sliced through his jacket and arm but he didn't pay any attention to the sting. Allison had notched an arrow and sent it flying. She hadn't had a clear shot until he'd moved. It wasn't an electricity bolt, striking the shade in the arm as it snarled, saliva dripping off the needle-like teeth. Stiles loaded his crossbow and shot it, watching the shade drop with the electrocution.

"Thanks." Stiles was barely able to get the word out, his voice caught between pants. She nodded, twitching her hair out of her face as they looked around. The sounds of the fight still in the woods got louder. There had only been four when Stiles had looked around, but maybe more were just out of sight. 

Just as Stiles was worried that him and Allison would have to take however many of the shades on by themselves, Danny and Lydia burst through the tree line, skidding to a halt when they saw Allison and Stiles. With a nod, they all moved towards the farmhouse, with Danny kicking it open.

There was a shade in the middle of the room, the shoulder covered in what looked like pus mixed with blood. Stiles recognized it as the one that had been using his dad's image. It wasn't moving, didn't even look like it was breathing. The other shades started to snarl in their direction, but all it took was Stiles and Allison to hold up their weapons for them to slink away. 

In the corner by himself, sprawled out on a blanket that looked like it had been in there since they Rigley family had left, was Derek. He was asleep, one hand chained to the wall. Danny moved behind Stiles and Allison so as to not block their line of sight. He a grunt, he broke the chain. Once that was done, he bent down and removed the collar.

The moment it was off, Derek shot up, his eyes moving around the room until they settled on Stiles. He didn't even have to concentrate to feel the relief that rolled through Derek at seeing that Stiles was in one piece.

"Get him out of here; tell the others we're leaving." Danny nodded, supporting Derek who seemed a little unsteady. Lydia went with them to scout ahead. Allison cast a glance at Stiles since he hadn't moved.

"Don't follow. We have one of your kind. He told me about the vra lothga. We plan on going through with it." The shades seemed to nod so Stiles backed up, forcing Allison out of the farmhouse first before turning around and heading towards the woods.

One problem fixed. Now they just needed to figure out what the vra lothga actually was and then figure out how to get Derek off the Most Wanted list. Stiles wasn't too interested in dating someone that was a fugitive.

\-------

Somehow everyone ended up at the house together with the hunters going to make sure the shades weren't advancing on the town. Chris kept to the side of the room furthest away from the group and closest to the door, but he didn't seem uncomfortable. 

Stiles hadn't spent a moment out of Derek's sight, and vice versa, since they had left the farmhouse. The moment they were in the woods, Stiles kept himself just beside Derek. At the entrance, Derek slid into the passenger seat of the jeep without a word. The drive to Derek's house had been full of Stiles forcing himself to not pull over and check to make sure that Derek was in one piece. He'd been missing for two hours but it felt so much longer.

Outside of the house, while everyone waited on the porch, Derek pulled Stiles into a hug that turned into a kiss. It was soft and short, barely lasting a moment, before he pulled back.

"Once this is figured out, we are locking everyone out of the house and I am not letting you leave the bedroom until you've officially defiled me. C'mon." Stiles could barely believe what he was saying, but by the smirk Derek had given him, he didn't think it was out of line. They poured out of the jeep and made their way to the house, letting everyone in.

It seemed natural that Derek and Stiles would be together on the loveseat while everyone else found somewhere to sit. Once everyone was settled, Stiles begun to talk.

"First I guess we should go ahead and tell you Derek. One of the shades, the one that's been walking around looking like you, killed two people. And got caught on camera. So you're once again wanted for murder. This time it had nothing to do with Scott or me." 

Derek rolled his eyes but Stiles could tell by the way his fists clenched and his shoulders tensed that he wasn't calm at all. Stiles pushed on, knowing that he'd have to ask what Derek was thinking later.

"Scott and I talked to the one downstairs. Don't give me that look, I had a gun. And you don't give me that look either Argent; it was my dad's idea. Anyways. Those collars, when taken off it sort of messes up the shade. When that first one was yelling and you had to kill it, it was draining us. That's why it drained me first."

Derek nodded, shifting so that he was facing Stiles completely.

"You said something about a vra lothga when Danny was taking me out of the room. What is that?" Derek's eyes were on Stiles and although Stiles should probably address the pack as a whole, he kept his eyes locked with Derek's as he spoke.

"The one downstairs said that there is a way we can get rid of the shades without having to kill or be killed. It's called a vra lothga, some sort of blood oath. Afterwards they would be forced to leave." Stiles had barely shut his mouth when Scott started to talk.

"Don't forget what else it said Stiles."

Stiles tossed a glare at his best friend, although he knew it was important. Probably the most important part of it.

"They would be forced to leave if both parties survived." He heard a slew of voices protesting the idea but Stiles was focused on Derek. He nodded, tossing a look over at the pack before sighing.

"We'll talk to the shade tomorrow; find out what needs to be done. Until then, we all need to rest up. We also shouldn't be here; this is where the cops are going to look for me. Keep your phones on. We'll call when it's time."

The pack left after telling Derek they were glad he was back. Once the house was empty, Derek cracked his neck and made his way up the stairs, changing his clothes. Stiles stayed on the couch, Kitty in his lap, until Derek was back downstairs.

"You should head home too." Derek's voice was calm as he moved into the kitchen and shoved a few things into a grocery bag. Food for the road? Stiles made his way into the kitchen, dropping Kitty on the couch as he did.

Once beside Derek, he pulled the bag out of his hand and shook his head.

"And you'll be coming with me." His voice booked no argument but Derek crossed his arms and Stiles had a brief thought that he was about to say 'I'm the alpha' so instead Stiles scooted up until he was pressed against Derek as much as they could be, breathing the same air.

"You're coming with me and hiding at my house. Like the last time you were a fugitive from the law. My dad will approve this time. We'll come back here and figure out what the vra lothga is, get the shades out of town, and figure out how to keep you from getting arrested." 

Derek shook his head, his lips brushing Stiles' as he did so.

"I should leave. After we get rid of the shades, at least until we figure out how to fix this. I'm a wanted fugitive, again, hanging out with a bunch of high schoolers, again. It might be best for me to disappear for a little while at the very least." 

Stiles hooked his fingers into the collar of Derek's shirt and pulled him down, standing on his tiptoes so that he was taller instead of being the same height. Derek allowed it to happen with simply an eye roll, which was better than expected.

"You can't leave the pack Derek. They need you. We need you here." Stiles' words were swallowed by Derek's lips, as he straightened his back so that they were once again the same height. The kiss was soft, even with Derek's tongue darting out to tease at Stiles' lips.

"I'm not talking about leaving Stiles, just getting away. Taking the heat off the pack. You know I'll always come back." Derek's voice was rough, either with emotion or just because Stiles was moving against him in ways that should definitely not be happening, but Stiles simply smiled.

"I know, but it doesn't matter. Get some clothes; you're coming home with me." 

Derek pulled away with a smile, licking Stiles' lips to illicit a noise, but pulled back before Stiles could counter. He looked towards the front of the house before swearing.

"Two cruisers headed this way; I can hear the radio chatter." Stiles swore himself before pushing Derek towards the garage.

"Just in case they can search the house, go." Derek nodded as he slipped through the door that lead to the dungeon. Stiles took a deep breath before shoving the empty metal tool cabinet in front of the door. Derek had bought it to use to cover the door for this very reason.

By time Stiles got back to the living room, there was a knock on the door. Stiles took a deep breath before he opened the door, trying to look surprised at seeing three police officers at the door. Including his dad.

"Hey dad, what's wrong?" His dad shot him a look that clearly said that Stiles better have a good explanation, off the record, as to why he was at Derek's house alone, but his voice was the definition if Sheriffly.

"There was an incident son, involving Derek Hale. We are looking for him." Stiles nodded as he hoped that his face conveyed concern and not guilt.

"What kind of incident? I know, I know, you can't tell me. Well I can't help you. He isn't here." His dad narrowed his eyes but one of the other deputies spoke first.

"His car is parked beside the house." 

Stiles craned his neck although he knew he wouldn't be able to see Derek's car. He wanted to groan but instead he shrugged.

"I know, weird right? But he's a weird guy. I looked all over the place for him. He wasn't answering the phone and I came over to make sure he fed the cat." As if he conjured her, Kitty darted towards the door and Stiles scooped her up before she even got close. She meowed pathetically before contentedly purring in his arms.

"She's a touchy cat, you have to feed and play with her constantly. Plus her litter was a disaster area so it'd a good thing that I stopped by." He watched his dad roll his eyes, glad that none of the deputies saw it.

"We have a search warrant to search the premises." His dad presented the warrant to Stiles who skimmed it. His dad had told him what to look for once so Stiles skimmed it before he nodded and moved to let them in. 

"I'll take the downstairs, Roger look upstairs, and Keith the garage." The deputies nodded before going to do what they were asked. Stiles watched as his dad moved first into the office and pretended to look around. 

He knew that was where all of the supernatural stuff was so he took it to keep one of the others from stumbling on something. Stiles listened to Roger stomping around upstairs, opening up each bedroom and bathroom door, probably looking in each closet. The other rooms were pretty impersonal and there were few items that said people actually stayed there but Derek's room was littered with Stiles' stuff.

Well, it's not like they were trying to keep the relationship a secret anymore. Now everyone in town was going to think Stiles was dating a fugitive. Huh, he didn't mind that too much. Serious street cred.

Keith came in from the garage and told the Sheriff that it was empty, which made Stiles breathe out a sigh of relief. 

Soon they were finished looking through the house and the two deputies left in the same car, leaving the Sheriff and his cruiser. Stiles stood on the porch next to his dad, controlling his breathing as he watched the tail lights of the other car disappear past the driveway.

Once the car was gone, Stiles ran through the house and into the garage, pushing the empty cabinet away and opening the door. Derek locked it behind them, moving the cabinet back, and stepped into the living room where the Sheriff was petting Kitty.

"I see they found you." Derek nodded, shaking Stiles' dad's hand firmly.

"We have a plan, pretty good one if you ask me, to get the shades to leave Beacon Hills." Derek's voice was confident, despite the fact that none of them knew what to expect with the blood oath.

"I'm trying everything I can to get you out of the legal trouble. I don't know what will happen. There is no physical evidence, just the video, but that's damning enough. We'll figure something out. Now, will you be coming home with my son?" 

"They've already been out here. I think I'll stay. I'll hear if anyone tries to sneak up on the house." Derek shook Mark's hand once more before the sheriff left, telling Stiles not to stay out too late. 

Stiles watched as his dad drove away before collapsing on the couch next to Derek. They were quiet for a while, the calm before the storm. 

"There could be a chance that you won't survive the blood oath. And if you don't, the pack will be without an alpha and I'll be without you and who knows, maybe if they kill you on accident they'll just decide to kill the rest of us." 

Derek shifted so that he was facing Stiles, pulling him so that they could kiss, hard and teeth grinding, Stiles' fingers gripping tightly at Derek's arms.

"We'll figure it out. It won't come to that."

Stiles took a deep breath, his forehead resting against Derek's. It won't come to that.

\-------

He hadn't changed the layout of his bedroom so there was no reason he should have tripped over something two feet into the door, so Stiles stumbled over to his desk and flipped the lamp on. Scattered around his room were various members of the pack. Various members, hah. All of them. A few blearily blinked up at him but they all went back to sleep very quickly. He sighed, not loud enough to be heard, and stumbled through the group to change his clothes quickly before turning off the lamp.

Once his eyes adjusted to the dark he was able to move past the pallets in the floor to make it to his bed which he would be sharing with no one, thankfully. They must have thought he was going to get Derek to come. He threw the blanket over his head and tried to sleep until he sat straight up in thought.

"Where the hell did you guys park?" There hadn't been any cars in the driveway when he had pulled in. Not even his dad's. No one answered so he sighed as he resigned himself to ask again in the morning. This time his head had barely hit the pillow when he sat back up.

This time because there was a noise. He watched as the others sat up and took a deep breath because if they heard it then it meant trouble... except the shadow that came into the room wasn’t trouble at all. He somehow hadn't heard his dad come in. He peered around the room in the dark and he heard him sigh, obviously aware that there were more bodies in the room than just his son's but obviously not having seen that they were awake. He shut the door quietly and Stiles sighed as he lay down.

He couldn't have been to sleep long before a familiar hum started in his chest. He rested his hand over his sternum, as if he could physically feel the sensation, and tried to fight back a smile. He struggled to get out of his blankets, in the process waking everyone up. Lydia was the one to comment.

"Do you have to make so much noise?" Lydia was pulled back down onto the pallet with Jackson who huffed to get her hair out of his mouth. 

"His mate is downstairs. Go to sleep." Jackson's voice was tired and the others grunted in answer, drifting back to sleep. Stiles looked over them from the door, amazed at how quickly they went to sleep, before he slipped through the door and made his way downstairs.

Derek was perched calmly on the couch, body tense as he heard Stiles come into the room. Stiles joined him, nudging him over with his arm and curling up on the couch. 

"You should have come upstairs." Stiles said the words in a yawn as he acknowledged the fact that at some point, Derek was probably going to apologize for waking him.

"I didn't want to wake up the pack. They had a long day." Derek's voice was a rumble behind Stiles, who had his back pressed along Derek's side. 

"But it's okay to send me fuzzy feelings?" It was said with a laugh so Derek would know Stiles didn't mind. In response, Derek wrapped an arm around Stiles and pulled him so that they could both lie down.

"The cops came back and were watching the house for me to come back. I snuck out the back way." 

Stiles rubbed his face against Derek's neck, smelling the woods on him. He sat up, pressing his elbow into Derek's chest in a way that was more ticklish than painful.

"You walked all the way here?" His voice was incredulous so Derek rolled his eyes before he shifted, moving so that they were on the couch more comfortably.

"Shut up and go to sleep Stiles before I make you."

Stiles mumbled something that sounded a little like 'bossy pants' but he huffed out a laugh as Derek flashed his eyes. Once they were done being playful, Stiles felt himself being pulled back to sleep. Whether or not Derek would go to sleep too, Stiles hoped, but he wasn't sure.

When he woke up, he was alone on the couch. He sat up, stretched and swore as his toes hit the edge of the coffee table. The sun was pouring in through the curtains and Stiles rubbed his eyes as he stumbled into the kitchen, eyes landing on Derek perched next to the coffee pot talking to Stiles' dad in a low voice.

"Morning son. Those lumps you call pack are still asleep. I tried to wake them up with a promise of food but they didn't even budge." His dad jerked his head at the table which was full with different breakfast foods, enough to feed a growing pack of mostly werewolf teenagers.

Stiles grunted his appreciation as he made his way to the table. He knew full well that he was giving Derek and his dad the time to finish up what conversation they were involved in. He didn't expect Derek to appear behind him and steal a piece of sausage off his plate.

"Dude, get your own plate." Stiles positioned himself between Derek and the plate, like that would stop him, and then sat down at one of the closest chairs.

The others slowly trickled downstairs, with Scott and Danny being last. They all blinked the sleep from their eyes and started to shovel into the breakfast. Stiles' dad watched with something akin to horror as the group demolished the breakfast spread.

"And I thought a teenage boy was bad. Here's the plan. Everyone who is required to go to school will be at school. All fugitives from the law will stay here and lay low. After school, you guys will do whatever it is you do. I've talked to Derek; he's going to call when you are headed to his house so I can call for a shift change. You'll have a small window to get in there. Go in the back way and leave your cars somewhere out of sight."

He nodded to the group, clapping Stiles on the shoulder once, before he strapped on his gun and left the house. 

The rest of the pack went back up to the bedroom to get their stuff, the girls changing in the bathroom together while the guys changed in the bedroom. Stiles watched as Derek did some cleaning before he stood up from the table.

"I need to get dressed. If I remember correctly, I have a test I'm completely not ready for today. So that'll be awesome." Derek came across the room and grabbed Stiles' empty plate.

"Go get ready. I'll clean up." 

It was disgustingly domestic and while Stiles would never say it out loud, it reminded him of his mom and dad. He nodded to himself before making his way up the stairs, knocking loudly on the door before stepping in.

There were three half naked werewolves in his bedroom. He was pretty sure he'd had a dream like this once.

He dressed lazily before rubbing his hands over his face and grabbing his bag. The others had already left, having parked strategically around the neighborhood so as to not be caught. It was a well thought out plan, considering it was pretty last minute. They'd all gone to their own houses and showered the night before before deciding to come to Stiles' to crash. He didn't mind. He slept better with one of them there during times of trouble anyways.

Even Jackson.

"You'll be here when I get out of school?" Stiles twirled his keys around his fingers while he watched Derek put the last of the dishes in the dishwasher. He was going to be late but he didn't care.

"Yes. We'll take two cars, yours and Allison's, when we go to be house. They do better offroading. We can hide them and walk the rest of the way. You're going to be late."

School was so overrated. With one last smile/wave/salute combo, Stiles stumbled from the house and ran to his car. He couldn't be late to his first class, he had a test.

\------

Teachers had to know there was something going on. There was no other excuse for the sheer amount of homework they piled on their students. Even if Stiles didn't have to worry about shades and police presence and some blood oath thing, he'd still be doing homework well until his next birthday. 

At least there was a teacher work day on Friday, something Stiles had forgotten. They had a three day weekend with which to survive and do homework. It was very appropriate.

"So what's the plan?" Allison was leaning against her car as they waited for the rest of the pack to get out to the cars.

"We'll drive to my house to pick up our equipment. And Derek. You and I will be the only ones driving. Our cars are the best for offroading." 

The group finally made it to the cars and Stiles repeated himself, watching each person nod. After that, they separated and went to their own cars, knowing that Stiles' house was the destination. Not surprisingly, Stiles was the first one home. He made his way inside, noticing a lack of Derek in the first floor. He was halfway up the stairs when he felt lethargic, not his own. He made his way up the stairs slowly. He took a deep breath, unsure of what he would find, and pushed his door open.

Derek was curled on his side in Stiles' bed, the blanket twisted around his legs like he'd been tossing and turning. His shirt was wrinkled on the bed next to him, arms curled into him as if he was cold. He had to know that Stiles was there, no way would he still be asleep otherwise. 

Stiles grabbed the shirt and lobbed it at Derek's head, not surprised when he caught it easily even though he was still mostly asleep.

"Wake up. The others will be here soon. Do you want them to see you snoring and snuggled up with my pillow? You better not have drooled!" He barely dodged the pillow that was aimed his way and made his way down the stairs with a laugh.

By time the rest of the pack was there, Derek had gotten dressed and was standing in the doorway as if he hadn't been asleep earlier. One glare from him told Stiles that he shouldn't even think about thinking about mentioning it.

Maybe if they weren't trying to fight for their lives.

The pack came in and everyone went over the plan once more. The weapons were already stowed in Stiles' jeep and all that was left was to get them to the house. Derek and Danny rode with Stiles, the other two couples in Allison's car.

The long way to the house meant a lot of side roads. They called Stiles' dad from the road and he said that they would have a window of about five minutes to get down the road. From there they could hide their cars and walk to the house.

It went smoothly. They passed by where his dad had said the cop would be positioned to see nothing. They took one of the hidden dirt roads until Derek told him to pull over, that they were close enough to walk. Once their cars were well hidden, the group divided up the weapons. Stiles slung his crossbow onto his back, tied the bag of attachments onto his belt, and made sure he had enough bolts. The others grabbed things they might need before they started towards the house.

Everyone kept on their toes and as they slipped through the back door, they all collectively sighed that they didn't run into a shade waiting for them. Stiles helped Derek move the cabinet, even though he really didn't need his help, and then watched as he unlocked the door and turned on the light.

They made their way down the stairs and through the winding hallways until they were in front of the familiar door. Derek brought up the video to see that the shade was still in the same place it always was. He typed in the code that swung the door open.

The shade stared at him before he looked at Stiles and then shimmered until Stiles' dad was in front of them again.

"I see you found him." His dad's voice was garbled, the words barely making it past the pointed teeth in his mouth. Stiles hefted his crossbow so that it was aimed at his dad's heart. 

"How do we go about the vra lothga?" His voice was firm and his hand was steady. No matter what happened, this was ending today. 

His dad's image cocked his head to the side before he smiled, the teeth gleaming in the yellow light of the room.

"I must be returned to my siblings. I am not the one to perform the blood oath." 

Of course, that would be easy. Before Stiles could speak, Derek stepped closer.

"What does it entail?" Derek's voice was low and rough, his eyes no doubt glowing red in the dim lighting. 

The shade looked at Derek before his eyes went back to Stiles. It had to be because the werewolves were the creatures the shades hunted that they didn't like communicating with them. Stiles repeated the question and waited.

"A bite."

Stiles looked at Derek from the corner of his eye before looking back at the shade.

"Derek has to bite you?" His voice was cautious but the shade simply shook his head.

"Our elder must bite the grotro. If both our elder and the grotro survive, the pact will be unbreakable. Even if you harm humans, we will not be able to interfere. Nor will any of our kind."

"Does the bite kill?" Stiles' voice was steady despite how much he wanted to scream. The shade shook his head.

"Our elder might die, but the grotro, if does not survive, will turn into one of our kind."

Stiles tried to remind himself that these things used to be human, but he couldn't. Grotro must be their word for werewolf, maybe even alpha. The thought of one of those things biting Derek made Stiles' stomach clench but he nodded, a look at Derek showing that he was nodding too.

"Fine. Take us to your leader." He tried not to geek out and the look that Scott shot him told him that he failed. 

Hey, if they were going to hell in a hand basket, Stiles intended to have fun with it.

\-------

They were going to the farm house, on foot and trying to keep up with the shade that had morphed back to normal. The things were creepy and very fast. Stiles stayed close to Derek, trying to figure out what he was feeling through the connection, but there wasn't anything there. He couldn't figure it out. Derek must have put a block on the connection, keeping his feelings to himself.

Once close, the shade made an ungodly sound. He slinked through the trees and none of the other shades attacked, so it must have been alerting the others to their presence. Indeed when they made it to the actual house, there was a group of seven or eight shades outside of the door. The shade they had followed made a motion, almost telling them to stay put, as he disappeared into the house. 

The others gathered in a circle with Stiles and Derek closest to the shades. With a deep breath, Derek turned Stiles to look at him.

"If this ends badly--" Stiles shook his head but Derek kept talking. "Listen, if they turn me, you have to kill everyone. Use the electricity balls first, but kill them. Even me. The pack will defer to you as alpha until one of them is able to take over. I talked to Chris Argent last night, he's in agreement. They'll recognize you as alpha of the pack until one of the actual wolves can take over." 

Stiles wanted to say no, could feel each of the pack's eyes and attentions on them. Finally Stiles was forced to nod.

That was why Derek had blocked the connection. If he turned, he didn't want Stiles to feel the pain as he was killed. Stiles shook his head, his stomach clenched, but forced himself to look forward at the shades.

It wouldn't go bad. It couldn't.

The shade they had captured came out, followed by the rest of the ones from inside. Stiles couldn't see the one that had been injured, so either it died or it was still too injured. Their shade shuddered before Stiles' dad appeared again.

"Our elder has agreed to the vra lothga. If complete, we will leave. The grotro is needed."

Stiles took a deep breath and cast a glance at Derek who nodded as if to reassure himself. He took a step forward but the shades started to make a snarling sound that stopped his movements. He tried again but their reaction was the same. Finally the shade spoke, the words garbled around the teeth but still distinguishable.

"The grotro is not one of the creatures. Our kind would die if they bit a creature. Grotro is human. We pick the human boy."

Stiles felt his skin turn hot and cold at the same time. At least it wasn't Allison, that wouldn't have gone over well. Not that it was going over well that he was the grotro. He could feel the vibration from Derek's growl in his own chest, the rest of the pack vibrating with anger that was probably not all alpha-beta connection. 

They were prepared for it to be Derek. None of them had liked it, but they had prepared for it. Now it was to be Stiles, like a lamb to the slaughter, but he couldn't say no. This needed to end. Like he had said so many times, this ended today no matter way.

He glanced at Derek, trying to use his eyes to say that if he was turned Derek should still kill him as planned, before he stepped forward. The pack was shut off as the shades closed around him, blocking his view of the pack and their view of him. He could feel the connection, could feel Derek probing him as if trying to keep him human by sheer will.

The shade that had taken on his father's image shuddered out and soon Stiles was surrounded by the shades. Their black eyes bore into him, their fingers reached out as if to touch him, their skin pasty and rough looking, their mouths open to show their teeth. Suddenly one of them, one that was smaller than the others, stepped forward and grabbed Stiles' arm. He seemed to sniff it before cutting the cloth of his jacket and shirt off with his fingers. 

Exposed to the cold air, Stiles shivered but didn't pull his arm away. The creature made a noise that soon all of them were mimicking, the noise growing so loud that Stiles wanted to cover his ears but he didn't move. He sent as much hope to Derek as he could as the shade lowered the needle-like teeth to his forearm.

They pierced into his skin and he couldn't help the scream he let out. He didn't pull away, imagined those teeth tearing long ways through his skin if he tried, and waited. His whole arm felt like it was on fire, worse than it had felt when the beta had bitten his other arm, before Derek had tried to change him to save his life.

He felt the blood drip down his arm and he forced himself to look as the shade pulled off. The bite mark was grotesque and the sight of it made Stiles feel a little ill. That would be hard to cover up. He felt something like liquid fire in his veins and he tried to keep from doubling over as it forced its way through him.

Suddenly there was smoke coming from the wound, a nasty smelling black smoke that reminded Stiles of their eyes. Was he changing? Was this it? He wanted to scream, wanted to know what was going on, could feel the panic race through him. It wasn't just his panic; he could feel the whole pack in the connection with Derek. They couldn't see him, could probably just smell the blood and hear his heart race and see the black smoke.

And then while he was in a panic, he felt his skin start to move. His eyes were drawn to the bite mark once more and he watched as the skin seemed to sew itself together, still covered with blood. He watched as his arm stitched itself together, each open gash disappearing with only the blood to show it had happened.

Was this it? Was he becoming a shade?

The shades made a noise, the same noise they had made at the beginning of the ceremony, and they parted so that Stiles could see the pack. The wolves were shifted, ready to attack. Instead the elder said something in their language before they returned to the farm house. Slowly all of the shades went into the house except the one that had been in Derek's basement. He nodded to the pack, as if...

"We both survived? The blood oath took? You're leaving?" 

The shade bared his teeth but nodded and Stiles... he felt himself fall into the leaves on the ground. He wasn't there for long before there was someone beside him, their hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Derek watching him, his eyes still red.

Derek used his shirt sleeve to wipe the blood off of Stiles' arm before it dried too much. There were a series of little scars, like pinpricks, but they were barely visible unless you knew they were there. Stiles ran is fingers over them but they didn't even hurt. He could almost believe it didn't happen.

"Now all we have to do is keep you from being wanted fugitive numero uno and everything will be good." 

Derek nodded and wrapped his around Stiles' waist, levering him upwards. The rest of the pack closed around them as they made their way back through the woods towards the house, Scott calling Stiles' dad to fill him in and Allison calling her own dad. Stiles felt woozy, his stomach and head feeling a little not connected. The pain might be gone, but the blood loss was still there.

\------

The funny thing is that waking up means going to sleep, which is something Stiles didn't remember doing. That meant that he passed out which is just embarrassing. It also meant that Derek had to carry him which was a little too "damsel in distress" for Stiles' liking. 

At least it was Derek and not like Lydia or something. Or worse, Jackson.

"Are you awake?" Stiles opened his eyes and blinked a few times before he zeroed in on his dad standing above him. He blinked again and looked around to see that yup, he was on the couch at Derek's house. So his dad was in Derek's living room. The last time his dad was in Derek's living room...

Stiles shot up and looked around but Derek was right there on the loveseat with Allison. The rest of the pack was nearby, all within eyesight. Even Kitty was there, curled up on Stiles' crotch and purring like she was the happiest cat to live. He scratched behind her ear before pushing her off his lap.

He sat up with a groan, clutching his head, and was rewarded by Lydia thrusting a cup of orange juice at him with a smile.

"Deaton came by to make sure the blood loss wasn't too bad. He left a bottle of pills and the instruction to drink lots of fluids. You'll be up and annoying us all in no time." She smiled as she passed it on and Stiles forced himself to roll his eyes as he drank it quickly and took the pills she handed him. 

"What are you doing here dad?" His voice was a little croaky but he coughed a few times and felt better. His dad nodded and straightened up to look around the room, eyes landing on Derek last.

"About thirty minutes after you called to say it was done, I got a call from one of my deputies. They found a body in the woods. Now up close this person was obvious no one we knew but sure enough it resembles you Derek. He had what looked like a really bad shoulder wound, got infected. Not sure how it happened but he was wearing the clothes that was in the video."

The shade that had been injured, the one that had copied Stiles' dad, must have died. And somehow was able to retain an image when he did so, taking on Derek's and warping it to look different.

"What does this mean?" Stiles sat up, waving Lydia off as she tried to grab his arm. His dad sat down beside him and gestured with his hands.

"Looks like your boyfriend is cleared of all charges. The Sheriff department is issuing a formal apology for dragging your good name through the mud Derek." 

Derek nodded, a small smile on his lips. Easy as that? They got rid of the shades, no one was turned into a creepy shade creature, and Derek was no longer a fugitive?

"I was kind of looking forward to dating a wanted felon." Stiles' didn't realize the words were out of his mouth until his dad slapped the back of his head and stood up.

"I don't need to hear that son. Alright, now that we're doing playing cops and robbers, have a good three day weekend. Stiles, you can stay here one night this weekend, so pick wisely. I've got to get back to work."

Stiles waved at his dad and looked around the room, each face a mirror of his own. Incredulous that it was over, that they made it out in one piece. There was a moment of silence before everyone started to laugh. Stiles flung his legs off the couch and stumbled over to where Derek was, grumbled as his legs buckled and he nearly squashed Allison who was barely pulled out of the way in time. Side by side, Stiles smirked and then tossed his arms around Derek's shoulders.

"You're not a fugitive anymore!" There was another round of laughter at Stiles' words and everyone settled down.

They were going to be a normal pack again. The teens would go to school, would stress over grades, would graduate. Stiles would turn eighteen and move in with Derek, go to the community college for a few years. There would be issues, that was a given, but it would be fine. They could handle everything else.

\-----

School seemed to know that the problem was over because suddenly there were papers and tests and projects due that Stiles had to rush and cram and spend hours to get prepared. The rest of the pack were just as swamped as he was so he took little consolation out of it. Weekends were no longer a time to hang out, they turned into a time to sit down and pour over research that was teacher approved. His dad had been proud of how well Stiles was doing, besides that one test but in Stiles' defense, he had completely forgotten about it in favor of writing a paper for his other class so the 60 he got on it was pretty generous.

Weeks went by, months even. Graduation was less than two months away. There hadn't been more than a stray beta to cause issues; that beta had taken one look at the pack and had run away with his tail tucked between his legs. Figuratively.

The first weekend that Stiles had free found him sprawled over Derek's bed, which he had spent very little time in recently, his face smushed into the pillows. He had no papers to research and write, no projects to put together, no tests to study for. He'd completed his homework in detention, because Harris was still a douche, so he could relax. And rub it in because the only other pack member that wasn't swamped was Lydia and she was doing strenuous retail therapy for the full weekend.

Derek hadn't been home, out to fix some old lady's computer or help one of the companies figure out why their connection was so slow, so Stiles had let himself in and collapsed on their bed without a second thought. And really the second thought should be that he'd promised some serious defiling once the shades were gone and yet there he was, still completely undefiled.

Not that there was any rush. But he might have been pretty thorough in his shower, put on a little cologne, and even made sure he wore his least embarrassing boxers. If it was going to happen, it wasn't going to start with him wearing one of the Mario brothers on his crotch.

He didn't even hear the front door open. He did, however, hear footsteps in the hall and then the bedroom door open. He rolled over so that he was no longer trying to suffocate himself and smiled at Derek. He took off his shoes and socks before he climbed into the bed beside Stiles.

"How much homework do you have this weekend?" Derek's voice was stern because he'd done very well and made very sure that his pack did their homework before anything else. Stiles' dad was impressed to know that Derek wasn't an accomplice in the teenage procrastination that sometimes happened.

"I have none. Zero. Nada. Nothing to prepare for and the rest of my homework was done in detention so I'm completely free." Stiles spread his arms out much like he was about to take off in flight, except he was sprawled out on a very comfortable bed with Derek pressed along his side. He wasn't going anywhere.

"And your dad..." Derek left that open. Stiles knew what he was getting at though.

"My dad said I can spend the night but he expects you at dinner on Sunday. He just wanted me to remind you." 

He stretched out once more, his legs _accidentally_ tangled with Derek's. He looked down at them and feigned surprise, but Derek simply rolled his eyes and pulled Stiles forward so that they could kiss. It was soft and sweet but Stiles didn't want any of that. He used the advantage of being the one that tangled their legs to flip them a bit more so that they weren't side by side but rather with Derek on top. The new position put them groin to hip so both could feel that the other was aroused.

"My birthday is coming up and I graduate soon and we both know that I'm moving in after both of those events, so I figure we stop beating around the bush and make honest men out of each other." Stiles punctuated his comment with a slow roll of his hips, his erection 110% invested in the outcome. 

For a moment he thought that Derek was about to say no, that they should wait. He stayed rigid above Stiles in a way that said this was going to end before it even got fun, but instead Derek nodded briefly and bent down to capture Stiles' mouth in a kiss that would without a doubt leave his mouth sore. He made a noise in the back of his mouth, trying to celebrate, but it turned into a very loud groan when Derek shifted his weight and their erections were pushed together, their clothes between them.

"Okay, naked. We need naked." Stiles rushed to pull off his shirt but Derek grabbed his hands, his fingers wrapped around his wrists, and pinned them to the pillow on either side of his head.

Once Stiles stopped trying to get their clothes off, Derek bent down once more to kiss Stiles. It was soft and slow, lips that barely touched, until Stiles opened his mouth just enough to pull on Derek's bottom lip. It was barely a tease, but it was all that was needed. From there, Stiles licked into Derek's mouth until Derek returned the pressure, his tongue tracing against the top of Stiles' mouth and the backs of his teeth. 

Stiles was so far gone that he hadn't even realized that Derek had let go of his hands, one hand on his neck and the other used to keep him propped up. The moment he realized that he was free, his own hands started to move over Derek's torso.

He pushed Derek's shirt up and up until they finally had to break apart so that Stiles could pull the shirt off. Once it was off and properly thrown somewhere in the vicinity of 'far the fuck away from the bed', Stiles let himself look at Derek with what was probably not an attractive leer but he couldn't help it. His boyfriend's body was... well.

His fingers brushed Derek's abs, trickled upwards to rub over his nipples and watched as Derek had to take a deep breath before he shifted so that he could straddle Stiles. The easier to take Stiles' shirt off, as his fingers clutched the bottom of the article of clothing and tore it upwards. There was a noise, a small rip that told Stiles that the shirt wouldn't be in one piece if he didn't help so he sat up and lifted his arms up. Once they were both shirtless, Stiles grabbed Derek's hair and pulled him into a painful kiss, teeth pressed against lips and tongues thrust into mouths, hands pressed against skin hard enough to bruise.

Stiles knew he was talking, could feel his throat working around words, but he didn't know what he was saying. He didn't want to waste time so he pulled his hands out of Derek's hairs and undid his belt, eyes locked on Derek's as he undid the button and pulled the zipper down. He took a deep breath as he raised his hips, tried not to watch his hands as he pulled the jeans and the boxers down, kicked them off of the bed with a small groan. Derek didn't look down from Stiles' face as he went to his knees and unbuttoned his own jeans. He pushed them down, his briefs as well, and had to pull of a pretty graceful move to get them off in one go. 

Once they were both undressed, Stiles couldn't help but let his eyes drift. He'd of course seen Derek shirtless and had even seen his cock a few times during their many sexual encounters, but he'd never seen him completely naked. And the sight was glorious. He was full of hard edges and soft lines and Stiles was having trouble cataloguing which part he wanted to get his mouth on first. A glance up to Derek's face told him that he was being looked at just as intently and instead of feeling self conscious, he felt a rush of confidence. 

The only word that could describe the word on Derek's face was hungry.

Derek pressed his hand against Stiles' ribs, his fingers open to span as much skin as they could, his thumb pressed against Stiles' nipple. Wandering hands was fine but Stiles had started to feel as if his skin was on fire, focused around the hand that was pressed against his skin, and needed more. He climbed onto his knees and crawled until he could sit on Derek's lap, skin pressed together everywhere. Yes, this was what he needed.

He latched his mouth onto Derek's shoulder, pressed his teeth in and flicked his tongue over the skin in a way he knew would drive Derek mad. And he was right. Derek twisted, his arms wrapped around Stiles without a moment's notice, and turned them so that Stiles was on top of Derek. The position put Derek's erection right where Stiles needed, but not enough. He shifted his hips to get the friction and was rewarded by a groan being yanked out of Derek, the noise low and made Stiles' blood burn a little hotter.

"Lube, condoms. You better have some because otherwise I might..." Stiles wasn't sure what he might do but he was saved from having to figure it out as Derek, with one hand on Stiles' hip to keep him balanced, leaned over and fished them out from a box under the bed.

"Those been there long?” Stiles eyed them carefully as Derek placed them on the bed next to their knees.

"No. I just like being prepared." 

Stiles was all for that so he surged forward to crush his lips against Derek's to properly show his appreciation but pulled back and fumbled for the lube. Derek watched, eyes trained on his hands in a way that made Stiles want to make some god awful and embarrassing sound. Instead he shifted his hips, his ass pressed against Derek's groin in a way that was slowly driving them both mad. 

With the lube cap opened, Stiles squirted a little onto his fingers and moved his hand under him, gasping as his fingers trailed over his cock before he moved to his opening. He pushed one in, his voice coming out in a high keen he wished he could pretend didn't happen, but the way Derek's pupils grew at it made it not seem so bad. He moved his finger around, curled it this way and that, before he dared to push his second one inside. The stretch burned a bit and he had to take a deep breath, Derek's hands brushing his sides and chest.

"Do you need some help?" Derek's voice was low and Stiles flushed at it but shook his head. He took a deep breath before pushing the second finger in and moaned as they brushed against his prostate. He shifted, trying to get his fingers further inside, but he couldn't, his voice a groan as he tried to maneuver into a better position.

Derek helped by pulling Stiles' fingers out, his eyes narrowing at the whine Stiles let out before he flipped them so that Derek was on top. He grabbed the lube and poured into his hands. He coated his fingers before he let his hand trace up Stiles' thigh and teased his opening before he pushed the first finger in.

Stiles' body was tense at first but once the finger was in he relaxed, his legs spread further open to make room for Derek. Derek groaned his appreciation. He bent down and bit onto Stiles' thigh, his teeth sure to leave a mark. The thought made Stiles harder, his hips thrusting in little aborted movements. 

"More." It was gasped out of him and Derek nodded before he pulled his finger out so that he could push two in. The burn and stretch was more than with Stiles' fingers but before Stiles could even think about the discomfort, Derek circled his tongue over the head of Stiles' cock and he moaned. He watched as Derek laved at the head, every now and then running his tongue over the entire shaft, and when he stopped to focus on the fingers, he realized that they were all the way in and were moving in and out with no discomfort.

Stiles arched his back, trying to get Derek's fingers where he needed them most, and was rewarded by a jolt. Derek rubbed the little bundle of nerves a few times before he pulled back. He poured a little more lube onto his fingers and rubbed it around the opening before he pushed three fingers in.

Just as the discomfort started, Derek bent down and once again took the head of Stiles' cock into his mouth, only this time he lowered his mouth a bit more. He had to press his free hand against Stiles' hips to keep them still as he tried to thrust forward and backward at the same time.

"Tease." He felt more than saw Derek grin as he panted the word out. It kept him distracted from the feeling until it no longer really hurt. There was still some discomfort but Stiles didn't care because the pleasure greatly outweighed the pain. 

Three fingers in, Derek twisted the fingers around until Stiles was loose limbed and his moans were broken by his polite request to just fuck him.

Okay, maybe it wasn't a polite request.

Derek pulled his fingers out and wiped them on the bed spread before he reached over and grabbed the condom wrapper. He flipped it over in his fingers a few times before he looked up at Stiles.

"I'm clean." His voice was deep but patient. Stiles thought about it, thought about what it meant. Derek was clean. Stiles was definitely clean. He'd gotten tested not too long after the shade ordeal to make sure he hadn't contracted some sort of supernatural disease. He thought about what it would mean for them. No condom meant a commitment. And well they were as committed as could be. Not that being mates was forever, but for them it was. Stiles didn't want anyone else. And he assumed Derek felt the same. 

He reached up and grabbed the condom from Derek's fingers, twirled it between his fingers before he tossed it away from the bed.

"You already swallowed my come; I think condoms are null and void at this point."

Derek looked confused for a moment until he remembered. Not too long after the first time Derek had gone down on him, he'd swallowed. Stiles remembered being entranced by the sight and not even thought about the implications until just now.

Back on track, Derek pulled Stiles up into a kiss. He bit and licked at Stiles' lips until Stiles opened his mouth.

"How do you want to do this?" Derek said the words against Stiles' mouth and Stiles pulled back to look at Derek. He'd thought about it many times. Of course some of those took place in the Camaro, but this was reality. Stiles thought about and then he pushed Derek until he was on his back so that Stiles could straddle his hips.

"Like this to begin with. From there, wherever the wind takes us." 

Derek rolled his eyes but then they rolled into the back of his head as Stiles wrapped his hand around him and positioned him at his hole. This position gave Stiles the control of the entry. He pushed down a little so that the head was fully in. He could feel sweat beading on his skin and smiled down at Derek as he massaged his thighs, mumbling encouragements. Soon Stiles pushed a little further down and took more, his eyes wide as he moved. There wasn't much more, he wasn't sure he could take more, and he pulled Derek up for a kiss as he thrust down to take it all.

Stiles panted into Derek's mouth, his fingers pressed so hard into Derek's shoulders that there would definitely be bruises there later. He could feel every inch of his body vibrating with the need to move. And while being on top was good, he knew what he needed more.

He pulled himself backwards, careful to keep Derek inside him, until his head was once again on the pillow and Derek was settled on top of him. Once they were comfortable, Stiles nodded, his mouth forming words that weren't being vocalized. Derek nodded briefly and claimed Stiles' mouth as he started to move.

He locked his legs around Derek's waist and grinned. Derek bent down and bit Stiles' collarbone while he started to move. Shallow thrusts at first until Stiles dropped his hand and grabbed a handful of Derek's ass, firm and amazing just like he knew it would be, and tried to urge him faster. It must have worked because suddenly Stiles was almost bent in half as Derek thrust into him. 

Stiles was going to ache for days. The mere thought made him want more. He arched his back and moaned as Derek seemed to hear him and moved harder. Stiles moved to intercept the thrusts, rolling his hips into it. One of Derek's hands wrapped around his back so that he could support him, keep him arched up in that way, taking it deeper and deeper with every thrust.

And fuck if Stiles wasn't really close to climax without even touching himself. He thought about it, skimmed his hand over his stomach near where his erection was, drops of precome glistening on the head, but he didn't touch it. He fisted one hand in Derek's hair and pulled him down for a bruiser of a kiss, the other hand on Derek's bicep.

Their kisses turned more into just sharing air, tongues darted out to lick into mouths. Stiles couldn't stop a string of curses come out amidst his moans as he felt his orgasm build at the base of his spine, a white hot heat enveloping him as he came. Derek didn't stop moving through it, kept up the punishing pace, and Stiles gripped tighter once he was done. His bones felt like they had disappeared but there was still an itch to be scratched. He bent up as far as he could to whisper into Derek's ear.

"Come on Derek, come on. Give it to me."

His voice did the trick because a few more thrusts later and Derek stilled as he came. The feel of it inside Stiles was strange, foreign but not unwelcome. He shifted his hips as much as he could to help Derek finish. Soon though, Derek collapsed onto Stiles. It wasn't a crushing weight but Stiles didn't mind.

"That was quite the experience." Stiles felt Derek start to laugh before he even finished talking and he cocked his head as much as he could with Derek's face pressed against his neck.

"We might need to take a shower." Derek pulled out as he spoke and Stiles made a ridiculous face at the feeling. Oh god there was sperm inside him. He dreaded standing because if he did, it was going to drip out. Derek seemed to sense the hesitation because he just laughed and disappeared into the bathroom. He came back with a wet cloth and seemed to clean Stiles up for the most part.

"Okay, so the sex was fun, but the clean up is gross. Condoms are good for keeping the mess in. Not that I think we should use condoms because that was a lot more fun than probably anything in the history of ever. Just saying that they are useful besides keeping people from infections and unwanted pregnancy." 

Once he was as clean as he was going to be, Derek helped Stiles stand and they moved to the bathroom together, with Stiles aware that his knees were locked and his body felt sore. As Derek started the shower, Stiles looked at himself in the mirror. He didn't look different, a few hickies on his neck and his skin flushed pink. 

"Think we can do that again?"

Derek raised an eyebrow as they stepped into the shower together, rubbing his fingers over Stiles' neck and chest before he skimmed over his hip and into the cleft of his ass once more.

"Well you are here for the night..."

\------

"Hey Stiles, hurry up would you?" Stiles' dad voice broke through the crowd and he tripped over his feet to get to where he was standing, surrounded by the rest of the pack. 

"Sorry, sorry." He swiped his graduation cap off of his head and glared at Jackson who snorted at how it messed up his hair before they moved to stand together so the sheriff and other parents could take pictures. Danny rolled his eyes as his mom started to gush about wanting to get a picture of each of his friends with Danny but no one really minded.

High school was over. Stiles turned eighteen in a couple of days. Everything was perfect. His dad had agreed to help move Stiles in with Derek a week after his birthday which gave Stiles plenty of time to pack. Plus the pack was going to help even though a few of them would be going off to college and actually needed to start packing their own stuff. Summer was going to feel short since freshman orientations started a week before classes started. Stiles didn't mind. They weren't going to be apart for too long.

"What's on your mind?" At Derek's voice, Stiles swung around and smiled. He was dressed in a nice button down shirt and a pair of slacks, earning more than few looks from the other people in the gymnasium. 

"Can't believe we finally made it to graduation. That no one is dead. It's pretty amazing." Derek laughed and pressed his lips to Stiles' briefly. He pulled back and barely had enough time to prepare himself before he had his arms full of Lydia and Allison. Stiles stepped back to watch, knowing one of the parents had to be getting pictures of this.

An arm circled his shoulders and Stiles smiled up at his dad. He wasn't in his sheriff uniform, was wearing a suit much like the one Stiles was wearing under his gown. They watched the pack jump and mess with one another, laughing loud enough to draw a few stares. It didn't matter. Stiles couldn't help but feel as if something inside of his chest was fit to burst.

Was this what it meant to be so happy it hurt?

"Things didn't turn out how you expected them your first day here, did they?" Stiles' smiled at his dad remembering how upset and angsty he'd been as he started high school with Scott as his only real ally. He looked over each person in front of him.

Scott who despite having a few issues of his own had stayed by Stiles' side no matter what. Allison who had stolen his best friend's heart and had wormed her way into his. Lydia who became more than just what he thought he wanted but became one of the best people he'd ever met. Jackson, despite his douchebag qualities, had turned into a good and true friend. Danny who had become part of their group hesitatingly before completely and now was one of the greatest out of them all. Derek who Stiles was afraid of and then curious about and then in love with.

"It could have ended up worse, huh?" Stiles laughed as his dad gave him another hug before going back into the throng of people to talk to Ms. McCall. 

Derek sidled up to Stiles and smiled, wrapping his arm around Stiles' waist.

"So the next chapter begins. Jackson, Lydia, Danny, and Allison will be going off to college within an hour's drive. You and Scott will be at the community college for a couple of years.”

Stiles pressed himself against Derek as he watched everyone stumbled over each other, their voices rising and the laughter breaking up whatever they were trying to say. There was going to be a graduation party at Derek's later so they were in no rush.

"It's going to be hard, isn't it? With just you and Scott the only wolves in Beacon Hills for the most part. If danger comes, we could get be in trouble." Stiles had been thinking about it a lot lately. Derek shrugged, pulling Stiles into a hug where he could mouth at his neck where his collar was undone.

"Who knows, maybe I'll do some recruiting. There are always people who need somewhere to fit in."

Stiles thought about that and nodded. Having more people in the pack would be good for them. A bigger, stronger pack that no one could ever mess with. And Derek was right; there were always people who needed somewhere to fit in. Think of their own mix match pack. Without the bite, these people wouldn't have been as close as they were. Stiles smiled pulled Derek into a quick kiss.

"I think that's a good idea."

He looked at the group once more and smiled. They could handle a few more amongst their ranks. It didn't matter anyways, because that was the future. All that mattered was right then. And right then everything was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this marks the end of the INYSMC 'verse. It's been a long and amazing ride. I cannot wait to start my next story, whatever and whenever that will be, but this story will always be my baby.
> 
> Thank you all for sticking with me for so long. It's been amazing and each one of you have earned a special little place in my heart. Merci!


End file.
